For an experienced drummer, time is obvious, or so you would think.
However, I have worked alongside some drummers who still struggle with timing and I wonder why that happens. I've listened back to some of my own performances and picked up where I've veered as well. Is having perfect time a bit like having perfect pitch - you either have it or you don't?
When I first started to play I would listen to a song on the radio, turning it down for a few seconds whilst keeping time in my head and hoping I'd be in time when I turned it back up again. I think that really helped, but it's easy to get sidetracked and let other thoughts enter your mind. This could be about the music you're playing - or other things from life that tend to prod us through the day.
One exercise I like to do is working with a metronome that drops out - I would recommend time trainer from justinguitar ( think this is available for Android and Apple.) You can programme this to drop beats or whole bars.
When using a metronome I usually have the beats as 2 and 4 if I'm working in 4/4 time, but I did know of a guitarist who set the click at, beat 3 1/2
Any other feats of timing out there?