The “Count Off” – Counting a Tune In

Many times, as drummers, the band leader looks to us to count off the tune so that everyone starts together and also so that the tune has a groove from the first note. I find that I like this approach as it gives me a chance to think about the tune, feel-wise for a moment and then I’m responsible for getting everyone else to feel that as well while counting it off. The goal is to have everyone start together with the same tempo in mind and time-feel. There are exceptions – not every tune starts with the entire band. Even so, the players who do not play from beat one can still start grooving immediately.

There’s a lot going on here. I may know the tune well enough to sing a part of it to myself and get the feel and tempo from that. If not, I’ll have a metronome with me with some personal notes as to how fast (the tempo) to count it off. The “count off” can also be referred to as “counting it in” which can be a bit confusing. Other times, the band leader may decide to give me an idea of the tempo, but still want me to count it off.

First of all – get the band’s attention. It doesn’t do any good to count off the tune while someone is tuning, changing a guitar string, finding their music, swapping instruments, taking a long overdue drink of water, etc. I request that people look at me when they’re ready. Eye contact can be so important here.

My count off is usually done while clicking my sticks together on the main pulse (quite often, quarter notes). While clicking the pulse, I say OUTLOUD: 1, (click), 2, (click), 1, 2, 3, 4. This is a two bar count off where in the first bar, I am clicking my sticks the entire time, but only saying “1” on beat one and saying “2” on beat three. During the second bar, there is one click for every count. The count off varies depending on the type of tune and even the tempo. For slower songs, I use a one bar count off. For swing tunes, I tend to click my sticks on beats two and four and then use the two bar count off described above. I find that this really helps establish the groove and the feel even before anyone has played anything.

There are other times when the leader may simply start playing and then everyone needs to hear the groove, the tempo, and the downbeat. If people are familiar with the tune and/or this is a set band, then this is not a problem. There are times (at a jam session, e.g.) when an unknown tune is started without a count off and the expectation is that everyone will start playing at the appropriate time. Seasoned musicians tend to do just fine in this case, whereas others may tend to struggle. My goal in this situation is to listen very closely so that I can really hear where this musician places the time-feel as well as where the “one” is (the downbeat). If there is any doubt, a good musician will give clues (musical and otherwise) – a head nod on beat “one” can be most helpful. Eye contact goes a long way here.

One other helpful thing that I’ve learned is to start clicking my sticks together (lightly) while someone else is counting the tune off. This not only helps me, but I’ve seen it actually help the person doing the counting! I have more thoughts on this and plan to write more soon.