For me I usually prefer to have a drum track laid out so I can really try and nail the groove. A click isn’t something I really care for, but it is nice to have in the background.
Most recently, I ended up recording the bass before the drummer laid his tracks and I only had the guitar part and a click to go off of. The end product just sounds…messy. I think that we did this backwards, but what do you guys think is the best “order” when it comes to recording bass?
Definitely want the drums to be there first. I think the bass player follows the drummer much more than the other way around. Frankly a lot of drummers don’t really follow anyone - everyone else has no choice but to follow them, time-wise. Dave Matthews once said that Carter Beauford was the “Captain of the ship.”
We bass players only strike notes with one appendage, whereas the drummer is using 3 or 4 different appendages, so it’s easier for us to make minor time adjustments very quickly. The drummer is kind of time-juggling: throwing different limbs in various directions and pre-timing the desired result. But we bass players can focus on exactly when we move one or two fingers.