Buddy Rich vs Neil Peart

4 Minutes in and I wanted to shoot myself!

JK kinda... I'm not big on drum solos, or guitar ones either, really... Jimmy Page with a violin bow? What I did find interesting was their technique. Buddy Rich with the sticks between fingers and Neil Pert with fists - but none the heavier hitting or clumsy because of it. Obvious experts in top form.

Good drummers are pure gold to a could be good band. Just lay it on hard and heavy. Don't start drumming real fast (unless doing a solo, I guess). John Bonham was one of the slowest paced drummers ever, but clever and with beautiful timing - did not care for his solos though. Why did Plant and Page need so much time? Sorry, I ramble...

 

Rich is God and Peart is Jesus../end of.

 

Neil Peart is technically awesome, but Buddy Rich has more soul and style.

 

Al Jackson Jr. every day of the !#@damn week.
And yes I know he's been dead for nearly 40 years. But the guy was a legend. The Human Timekeeper!!!

 

Buddy.

 

Neil Peart is great and all, but he's no Buddy Rich.

 

Somebody been watching a little Freaks and Geeks?

 

Keith Carlock

 

I'm a big Neil Pert fan, saw him with rush many years ago and he had every percussion known to man on stage. He played one of the best drum solos I have ever heard...

...but Budy Rich is better.

 

This sums it up for my feelings.

 

I think if you asked Neil...he would say Buddy hands down. But, within the rock/Rush context, I would think Neil would be on top. For big band, it's definitely Buddy. Neil didn't start learning/playing big band seriously from influences like Buddy and Freddy Gruber until the 90s I believe. This involved exploring new grip techniques and new approaches to keeping time playing drums. He was learning and taking lessons from Freddy pretty much till Freddy died not so long ago. All of this work by Neil has made him a better all around drummer and more improvisational during his drum solos...where he will "wing" certain sections versus playing it the same way night in and night out. For the time before the 1990s, it was primarily Neil doing his own thing with his own style in the Rush context. There was no improvisation in Neil back then. He pretty much played everything the same way night in and night out.

I just think that, if you compare the drummers, then it should be in the context of the genre they played in as that is all we can go on versus just technical ability (who can play faster or whatever doesn't mean they are better). Neil crossed over to big band to be a better player. He took risks going out of his comfort zone to become a more versatile drummer by drumming to, and studying from legends from, a different genre/era.

Regardless of who is better, they are each one of a kind.

 

Buddy Rich is a snare drummer that found a trap set. Neil is a dork.
Max Roach FTW

 

I'm a Max Roach fan, too. The drummer I used to use for inspiration was actually Dannie Richmond. To be able to just "pick up" the drums...and become Charles Mingus' Main Man is just...insane. Crazy style since he wasn't technically a drummer.

For the OP:
I'm a fan of both. I think Rich has a fluidity to his style that Peart lacks. Peart is amazeballs for sure...

[the futants = big jazz and Rush fan. Full disclosure.]

 

That's interesting because Rich was often criticized for being all technique and no soul. His technique was literally perfect, though. Literally.

Oddly enough, Peart is sometimes criticized for the same thing. That's kind of why he decided to get into jazz drumming, as Surfguy mentioned.

Needless to say, both of these guys are/were amazing. I often get on YouTube and find as many versions of West Side Story and Channel One Suite as I can to see what Buddy will do during the solos. And Neil's YYZ solo on Exit...State Left could very well be my all-time favorite drum solo.

Most open drum solos are frankly pretty boring, but both of these guys approach them like telling a story - complete with an intro, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. If you really listen, you can hear all of that.

But if I had to pick one drummer as the best drummer in the history of the world, it would be Vinnie Colaiuta.

 

I think of Buddy Rich as someone who could never be overmatched behind the kit. He's the king.

In a rock setting though, I'd have to go with Bonham as my favorite. His "solos" are dreadfully boring but behind Zeppelin he couldn't be more perfect. I'm not sure how much of the timing was under Page's influence, but either way it sounds brilliant.

 

Neil. Peart.

 

When I think of Buddy Rich, I think of this ...

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jnkkhYM4Whg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Until Peart plays upside down, I gotta go with Rich.

 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/n_BmeBfV-O4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I think Neil would tell you it's Buddy, but I don't know he'd be right.