The Best Drummer Of All Time

[DogpitStudios]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Not because he can do some off beat, double timed, rimmed shotted, niner.?

Oh, I'm sorry. I've just never actually seen a person admire a jazz drummer for these reasons. I guess where I come from everyone is admiring jazz drummers for there (I guess you could put emotional here) input into the song.

Ben

[brandondrury]

It sounds like you like jazz drummers for the right reasons. Who are you favorite jazz artists?

I've never met a person who played jazz as their primary style, so when all these metal drummers come in and tell me they love John Coltrane's drummer because he can do "insert mathetical equation here" I wonder if they really like John Coltrane's music or if they just like the fact that the drummer can do all this crazy technical shit.

I find that very few of the drummers who respect jazz drumming having any interest at all in jazz music. They are just doing what they are told by the drum magazines.

Brandon

[hairspan]

I think Neal Peart is also a great drummer.

[brandondrury]

He's really proficient at hitting things, but I never found him that fun to listen to.

Brandon

[lumpy]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

He's really proficient at hitting things, but I never found him that fun to listen to.

Brandon

Me either! Peart is a very technically proficient drummer, and excells at performing odd time signatures. But I find his style, and the styles of several other "drum gods" like Mike Portnoy, and Danny Carey to be dull. They couldn't find the groove to save their lives. But then again I couldn't play in 9/8 time to save mine.

There are plenty of impressive drummers out there who are just as technically proficient as Peart, but never lose sight of the groove. Joe Morello, Danny Seraphine, and the late, great Jeff Porcaro are just a few I can think of off the top.

I'm not saying Neil Peart sucks, I would just like to hear him play "Louie Louie" sometime!
Lump

[brandondrury]

I agree 100%, Lump.

It's all how you define "fun". I usually don't have that much fun when I listen to records with amazing musicianship (there are exceptions to this). I usually have the most fun when I listen to guys that aren't that great playing really simple stuff.

This is especially true of drummers. A guitar player or bass player can get a little carried away without much damage. When the drummer starts "noodling" (I'm not sure if this applicable to drums) I find the whole thing just goes to hell.

I think way too many music people get caught in the self serving ideas like "off tempo drumming is better" when all you really have to do is have fun with it.

Brandon

[Superdude]

Ginger Baker, guy from led zep(sorry)

[damoh]

Lucius Borich from cog (www.cog.com.au) Raw energy, incredibly musical, amazing to watch.
I also get a real kick out of listening to Dave Grohl play drums too. Huge powerful hitter but so articulate at the same time.
Its all about feel for me and these guys have it in spades.

[snoopy]

Yeah I could never get into the Mike Portnoy Dream Theater stuff.....though I do have the first Liquid Tention Experiment CD. I have always liked drummers that build the tight groove and drive the song. Alan Jackman the first drummer for The Outfield had this quality. Listen to any song off Playdeep and see how the drums and guitars both compliment each other and drive the song.....not strange time sigs just solid stuff with drive. Cactus Mouser is also a favorite of mine.... in the late 80's when I was playing lots of new country he really made me think, " I can play a country shuffle with rock style and make the song fun and not so dragging and boring."

[In10city]

"The Best Drummer of All Time" is a pretty vague term without any specific qualifications. There are so many outstanding drummers with vastly different 'specialties' that the categories of "best drummer" could be as numerous as the drummers themselves.

As a drummer I've always been the most inspired and entertained by drummers that play complex parts that still serve the songs. One of my favorite drummers is a master at playing only what the song requires and has achieved great success from it. On the other end of the spectrum are drummers that "overplay" everything but there is so much happening I can listen to the songs over and over trying to visualize how those parts were played.

I love some of the drummers already mentioned in this thread and have not heard of the others. There's no way I could pick a "Best drummer of all time" though because there are so many that have deeply influenced and impressed me. The best I could do would be to just make a list of my personal favorites but there's already a great website that did that:

http://www.drummerworld.com/index2.html