You need a good one.
No, you need a great one.
If you write songs and you’re playing them live with anything less than a great drummer, you’re doing a disservice to the music.
The drummer is the engine, the center, the back bone, the foundation for the whole thing. It all runs through him/her. If you have a great guitar player but the drummer is weak, everyone sounds terrible.
There’s a tiiiiiiny bit more leeway in the other instruments. It’s just the way it is. A decent guitar player sounds ten times better when playing with a great drummer. But not the other way around.
Having a beast sitting back there elevates everyones game.
You. Need. This.
So if you don’t currently have one…then one of two things must happen.
The drummer must be replaced, or it just became your drummers full time job to get insanely good at the drums. Imagine that. Take private lessons, watch all the drum videos on the internet, buy a practice pad, practice a lot everyday, talk with other drummers. And repeat for a couple years.
Nothing in the whole world feels better than someone getting up there and laying it down on the drums.
So do you have a great drummer? You’ll know 100% for sure when you have one. And the knowing is the definition.
p.s. If you’re a band (of equals) the “replace vs. get better” can be a little more difficult. However, if you’re an artist paying players per show, you should have a high level drummer playing for you by the end of the day tomorrow.
I know I know, you can’t afford a great drummer.
Not true. That’s small thinking.
How about only saying yes to gigs where you’re being paid enough (or it makes sense for some other reason) to have great players, in order to put on a great, high level, professional show that FEELS. SO. GOOD.