Now Tim's a really good drummer and he's been playing longer than most of you have been alive, so I really do think he could play to a click if necessary. It does raise an interesting question though... Is this a necessary skill for a drummer? Should it be?
There's an interesting debate I've been following between Jeff Berlin and Steve Bailey about the benefit/harm of practicing to a metronome/click. Both of these guys are among the top echelon of professional players and I consider them both to be bass heroes of mine.
Bailey is in favor, while Berlin is quite outspokenly opposed. Berlin's argument is that the metronome was never intended to be used as a practice tool - it was a device for composers to set tempo of their compositions - and shouldn't be used as such. He believes that one should practice out of time if necessary to learn the notes of a piece and let the rhythm come naturally. He believes that practicing to a metronome results in a robotic-like rhythmic sense and that players used to using a click have difficulty with feel when tempos change within a song. He makes a pretty strong case.
Bailey believes using a click helps cement tempos in ones head and can help build the internal rhythmic clock, so it should be used as tool for practicing. He also makes a strong case.
