Technically, Neil Peart and Danny Carrey are phoenominal drummers. Carrey is my favorite. He plays so many different time signatures. It takes serious talent to keep a different beat with each hand. One of my best friends is in a band, and he's had a lot of different drummers and knows drummers from other bands and they almost unanimously worship Stewart Copeland from The Police as their favorite of all time. I'm not a musician, and his work sounds pretty run-of-the-mill to me, but they say it's subtle things that make him so good. BTW, I have Rock Band on pre-order. I've heard that if you can play the drums on expert in the game, you can really play the drums.
Stewart Copeland is amazing, and what he does with the cymbals is great. The funny thing is that speaking of drummers and keeping time, his bandmates all say he has tendency to speed things up.
One drummer that gets left off of these lists but was absolutely fabulous and a pioneer at the time of his playing was Jerry Allison of Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
Is the name Neil Peart ingrained in everyone's mind or something ? That's the first name I thought of, along with Keith Moon, and, honestly, I barely know who he is... It's like word association, I guess.
I don't really get into the whole who is "the best" and all of that. There are WAY too many great ones out there (many that no one has ever heard of) and WAY too many variables to come up with as few as 20 names, much less one. And I usually don't knock other people opinions about stuff like this, but.... Travis Barker??? Come on, that guy is a joke. I've had students that were better than that guy. He's really kind of a joke in the drumming community, that is, if you're older than 13. I guess if I had a current favorite drummer (who is still alive), it would be Vinnie Colaiuta. Or maybe Dave Weckl. Or Steve Gadd. Oh, and Earl Harvin. And how could I forget about Keith Carlock? See what I mean? I can't do it. BTW, I love Stewart Copleland, but yeah... he isn't the best time keeper. Just ask Andy and Sting.
ringo is still alive, right? people knock his drumming alot, but the guy seemed to always know exactly what the song needed. ive heard that in the entire beatles recording career there was only two times where a take was messed up b/c of ringo - the dude was solid as a rock. plus, he was a master of tuning - he would adjust his heads tone based on the song. ginger baker tony allen - fela kuti drummer stephen perkins - i was really influence by his work w/ janes addiction. when i was learning drums he is one of the people i would play along to. all my favorite jazz drummers are dead! tony williams philly joe jones elvin jones
Yes, Ginger Baker is still alive! Though you would have sworn he was about to drop off at any second by 1969. And he still kicks ass as a drummer too. His solos are excessive but the way he palys his phrasing to support the vocals and how he makes the drums an equal focal point of a band is pretty unique. Richie Hayward of Little Feat is one of my favorites to watch though I guess bands with multiple percussionist get overlooked. Could you play at all this high? ( I think he has his drums turned up to 11) <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NrN6zwL2lfs"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NrN6zwL2lfs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Ditto.... My personal favorite drummer is Billy Cobham, who has all of Peart's chops but can actually swing. BTW, Charlie Watts has great feel, but his time keeping (why would you use meter? - that refers to the time signature) abilities are only OK. In his last Bass Player interview, Darryl Jones talked about how Watts rushes his fills all the time. Of course, that works OK in the Stones, who are not exactly the tightest of bands. Nor should they be - if they were as tight as Rush (for example), they'd sound awful. So Charlie works great for them, but I don't think he'd work well in most bands. One thing that really distinguishes a great drummer from the average is an ability to tailor his/her fills to what's going on in the music at the moment. Many drummers can work out a crazy fill on their own and later stick it in the music, but it takes a real artist to play a fill that sounds like a genuine response or counterpoint to the melody or some other aspect of the music. As a bass player, nothing brings a grin to my face like a drummer who can do this.
Ringo Starr, since he is likely outsold the rest combined. IMO, Omar Hakim beats Niel Peart with a stick
Even though it's no secret Rush is my favorite band, I'm not so inclined to name Neil Peart THE best drummer albeit many drummers do pick him to be one of the best consistently. I think he just won another drummer magazine award this year for best rock drummer. I'm more inclined to say Neil may be the best when it comes to the rock genre. As some of you probably know, Neil has been getting into the big band drumming sounds of all the ancient favorites, like Buddy Rich. In fact, it's a trademark of his drum solo to finish up with big band samples played against his drum parts. However, it has been pointed out that he has shortcomings in this area. In fact, he did a big band concert (may have been the Buddy Rich Tribute Concert) where is was out of his element so to speak. I think it was at this show, or another, that the drummer from DMB apparently outmatched Neil when they played together during the show. Granted, Neil is branching out into areas he is not so familiar given his years of playing drums in Rush. He has also messed with changing his grip when he plays drums...something which requires a lot of re-learning how to play using the new grip. Give Neil kudos for not just sticking to what he does in Rush but to branch out and experiment. Also, Neil is not known for his improvisational drumming. He is a formulaic drummer and a composer. However, he is improvising the beginning of his drum solo on this current tour...a first for him. Usually, whatever he plays is set in stone and composed/rehearsed to death. Obviously, Rush likes to mix it up with the different time signatures. There is no doubt he is very good from a technical standpoint. He has been known to use click tracks on rare occassion as well, e.g. Red Sector A in concert. Neil also draws many accolades for producing his drumming videos, e.g. Anatomy of a Drum Solo. He made another video of how he came up with the drum parts on the "Test for Echo" album. Obviously, these videos are any drummer's wet dream probably. I will say I believe Neil is one of the best in the business. Obviously, for Rush's sound, there is no better drummer or lyricist. However, like was said, too many factors to arrive at a single drummer conclusion without narrowing it down with other criteria.
Drums are expensive as hell. I thought it wouldn't be too bad until I started looking at high end cymbals and gear like pedals, stands, etc. That said, it's a lot of fun to bang on drums and worth the cost.
Best drummer alive today is Neil Peart, no question about it. Some of my all-time favorite drummers, dead or living: Neil Peart John Bonham Keith Moon Ginger Baker Levon Helm Hal Blaine Jim Gordon Jim Keltner Phil Collins Carl Palmer Bill Bruford
It's a difference of styles. Watts would work well in any blues or jazz band. Peart would not. Check out Watt's jazz/big band work. You might be pleasantly surprised. BTW....why has nobody mentioned Jim Keltner yet???? One of the greatest session drummers alive. EDIT: Whoops...just saw the post above me!
