My brother says Neil Peart is the greatest rock drummer ever (1 Viewer)

[Homer J Simpson]

at the Peart hater.

 

[[icon]]

I don't get the whole jazz thing...why are jazz drummers supposedly better? Is it cause of that brush thing they use?

Wackier time signatures and offbeat fills.

Not to mention generally a cleaner sound and a little more use of "touch" to modulate the tone of the strike.

Many jazz drummers come from drum corps and have a mastery of various rudiments and other technical aspects of drumming that the vast vast majority of rock drummers lack. Jazz drummers tend to understand that percussion is often as much about what you DON'T play as what you do play.

Nice little taste of Galactic's Stanton Moore off their album "coolin off" which is in my top 10 albums of all time. Great swing, and Moore is a mother####ing metronome. Moore is the your favorite pair of Levis as Peart is to Elton John's sequined stretch pants.... he's not showy about it but he's getting it done in a truly classic fashion.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Hey what do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians?

The lead singer

 

[drummer]

at the Peart hater.

Yeah well you'd actually have to know drums to be able to know the differences.

 

[drummer]

Here is a great review of one of the most influential rock albums recorded, that even Peart may have been influence by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBOwDewubIo

 

[NCCommish]

at the Peart hater.

Yeah well you'd actually have to know drums to be able to know the differences.

Well you have taken your criticism pretty far. Dude can play.

 

[Eephus]

I don't get the whole jazz thing...why are jazz drummers supposedly better? Is it cause of that brush thing they use?

Wackier time signatures and offbeat fills.

Not to mention generally a cleaner sound and a little more use of "touch" to modulate the tone of the strike.

Many jazz drummers come from drum corps and have a mastery of various rudiments and other technical aspects of drumming that the vast vast majority of rock drummers lack.

I bet more than a few of the drummers from the USC and UCLA marching bands have tremendous chops. Tim and his brother might have noticed this at halftime except they were busy pontificating about Peart.

 

[dhockster]

I personally never thought Ringo was much of a drummer, but that was mainly because I don't think he was asked to do a whole lot with the Beatles. The Beatles are the greatest vocal/melody line band ever and that was the main focus of their music. The drummer was there to provide a beat but this was in the background to the melody line/vocal harmonies. A hard rock/prog drummer like Peart is asked to do a lot more because part of the appeal of hard rock/prog is how well the individual musicians play their instruments. The songs are a showcase of not just the music but of their individual talent.

I don't think you can go wrong with Peart, Bruford, Copeland, Moon, Bonham, Palmer, Portnoy, and Bozzio. All do amazing things in their own way.

Peart is the easiest prog drummer to cop licks from. Vinnie Colauita is one of the hardest.

Obviously, you are a drummer. That probably makes you more qualified to judge whether one drummer is technically better than another drummer. However, everyone can have an opinion as to who they think is the "best drummer" based on whatever criteria they think is important. Obviously, a lot of people in this thread think Peart has some merit because they like to listen to Rush, they like to listen to his drumming, or a combination of both. Whether you mean it or not, your critizism of Peart is coming off very douchy.

By the way, who does Vinnie Colauita play for?

 

[Mr. Ected]

Neil was my brothers "drum teacher" , as my father and Neil were friends growing up in St Catharines and have even played together.

Neil even showed to my dad's 50th birthday party - suffice it to say, I was the envy of a lot of musician friends in highschool.

Genuine dude, and is even better on the kit than he shows with Rush. Legend, for certain

You know what question is about to be asked, right?

How does he pronounce his last name?

Spoiler

Neil Ellwood Peart, OC (/ˈpɪərt/; born September 12, 1952), is a Canadian musician and author.

ɪər NEAR, beard, fierce, serious (/iːr./)[15]

So does that mean ii sounds like Piert?

 

[drummer]

at the Peart hater.

Yeah well you'd actually have to know drums to be able to know the differences.

Well you have taken your criticism pretty far. Dude can play.

There are a lot of drummers that can play. To me, it's what they play that means more.

 

[Amused to Death]

I personally never thought Ringo was much of a drummer, but that was mainly because I don't think he was asked to do a whole lot with the Beatles. The Beatles are the greatest vocal/melody line band ever and that was the main focus of their music. The drummer was there to provide a beat but this was in the background to the melody line/vocal harmonies. A hard rock/prog drummer like Peart is asked to do a lot more because part of the appeal of hard rock/prog is how well the individual musicians play their instruments. The songs are a showcase of not just the music but of their individual talent.

I don't think you can go wrong with Peart, Bruford, Copeland, Moon, Bonham, Palmer, Portnoy, and Bozzio. All do amazing things in their own way.

Peart is the easiest prog drummer to cop licks from. Vinnie Colauita is one of the hardest.

Obviously, you are a drummer. That probably makes you more qualified to judge whether one drummer is technically better than another drummer. However, everyone can have an opinion as to who they think is the "best drummer" based on whatever criteria they think is important. Obviously, a lot of people in this thread think Peart has some merit because they like to listen to Rush, they like to listen to his drumming, or a combination of both. Whether you mean it or not, your critizism of Peart is coming off very douchy.

By the way, who does Vinnie Colauita play for?

I know him from his days with Zappa. I know he's done a lot more as well.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Drummers are nothing but advanced cavemen pounding away at rocks.

 

[Scoresman]

somebody named drummer criticizing one of the best drummers ever...

 

[drummer]

I personally never thought Ringo was much of a drummer, but that was mainly because I don't think he was asked to do a whole lot with the Beatles. The Beatles are the greatest vocal/melody line band ever and that was the main focus of their music. The drummer was there to provide a beat but this was in the background to the melody line/vocal harmonies. A hard rock/prog drummer like Peart is asked to do a lot more because part of the appeal of hard rock/prog is how well the individual musicians play their instruments. The songs are a showcase of not just the music but of their individual talent.

I don't think you can go wrong with Peart, Bruford, Copeland, Moon, Bonham, Palmer, Portnoy, and Bozzio. All do amazing things in their own way.

Peart is the easiest prog drummer to cop licks from. Vinnie Colauita is one of the hardest.

Obviously, you are a drummer. That probably makes you more qualified to judge whether one drummer is technically better than another drummer. However, everyone can have an opinion as to who they think is the "best drummer" based on whatever criteria they think is important. Obviously, a lot of people in this thread think Peart has some merit because they like to listen to Rush, they like to listen to his drumming, or a combination of both. Whether you mean it or not, your critizism of Peart is coming off very douchy.

By the way, who does Vinnie Colauita play for?

Vinnie has played and recorded with Frank Zappa, Sting, Chaka Khan, Joni Mitchell, Jeff Beck, Megadeath, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock...

I think it's easier to list who he hasn't played with.

 

[[icon]]

another new orleans staple... Darren King from Mutemath is arguably the most criminally under-appreciated drummer mentioned in this thread.

 

[drummer]

somebody named drummer criticizing one of the best drummers ever...

I'd take Jojo Mayer over Peart, mostly because Mayer is doing something that everybody is sleeping on now.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

somebody named drummer criticizing one of the best drummers ever...

It's like ten thousand wings when all you need is a drumstick.

 

[NCCommish]

at the Peart hater.

Yeah well you'd actually have to know drums to be able to know the differences.

Well you have taken your criticism pretty far. Dude can play.

There are a lot of drummers that can play. To me, it's what they play that means more.

Well that's semantics. The guy is good really one of the best. Plenty of the drummers mentioned here would say the same.

 

[joey]

I personally never thought Ringo was much of a drummer, but that was mainly because I don't think he was asked to do a whole lot with the Beatles. The Beatles are the greatest vocal/melody line band ever and that was the main focus of their music. The drummer was there to provide a beat but this was in the background to the melody line/vocal harmonies. A hard rock/prog drummer like Peart is asked to do a lot more because part of the appeal of hard rock/prog is how well the individual musicians play their instruments. The songs are a showcase of not just the music but of their individual talent.

I don't think you can go wrong with Peart, Bruford, Copeland, Moon, Bonham, Palmer, Portnoy, and Bozzio. All do amazing things in their own way.

Peart is the easiest prog drummer to cop licks from. Vinnie Colauita is one of the hardest.

Obviously, you are a drummer. That probably makes you more qualified to judge whether one drummer is technically better than another drummer. However, everyone can have an opinion as to who they think is the "best drummer" based on whatever criteria they think is important. Obviously, a lot of people in this thread think Peart has some merit because they like to listen to Rush, they like to listen to his drumming, or a combination of both. Whether you mean it or not, your critizism of Peart is coming off very douchy.

By the way, who does Vinnie Colauita play for?

I know him from his days with Zappa. I know he's done a lot more as well.

Spending a lot of his time with Sting over the past decade, and you can see him backing up Jeff Beck lately.

No mention of Steve Gadd in this thread yet. Dude can lay down the thickest, tastiest marching-style groove. Also been on a million different pop tracks over the past few decades.

One of my favorite drum tracks EVER is a triple drum solo between Gadd, Calaiuta and Dave Weckl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6b_nBM-V8

jump to 2:48 to see Steve lay down the marching groove that the other 2 solo over.

Love how Gadd almost hops out of his throne on some of the heavy accents.

 

[Scoresman]

can any of these other guys make the start of a song sound like an idling motorcycle like the van halen guy could?

 

[bigbottom]

I don't get the whole jazz thing...why are jazz drummers supposedly better? Is it cause of that brush thing they use?

Wackier time signatures and offbeat fills.

Most jazz is in regular 4/4 time, or blues forms like 12/8. They just make it seem like it's in another time signature.

Right. "Some" jazz is in wackier time signatures with offbeat fills. Basically, all rock is 4/4 (save for a few exceptions here and there). Put another way, I'd venture a guess that the vast majority of rock drummers have never publicly performed a song in anything other than a basic time signature, while the vast majority of jazz drummers have performed songs in alternative time signatures.

 

[drummer]

at the Peart hater.

Yeah well you'd actually have to know drums to be able to know the differences.

Well you have taken your criticism pretty far. Dude can play.

There are a lot of drummers that can play. To me, it's what they play that means more.

Well that's semantics. The guy is good really one of the best. Plenty of the drummers mentioned here would say the same.

The argument isn't whether he is good. The argument is whether he is the greatest. What I am arguing is the sphere of influence, and weighing what he does amongst others.

 

[[icon]]

another new orleans staple... Darren King from Mutemath is arguably the most criminally under-appreciated drummer mentioned in this thread.

Adding some fun stuff from King here on "Burden"... great minimalist "soloing" IMO

And he doesn't need a 395 piece kit to do it

 

[Leroy Hoard]

can any of these other guys make the start of a song sound like an idling motorcycle like the van halen guy could?

Ronny Montrose got it as far as sounding like a motor scooter.

 

[drummer]

I personally never thought Ringo was much of a drummer, but that was mainly because I don't think he was asked to do a whole lot with the Beatles. The Beatles are the greatest vocal/melody line band ever and that was the main focus of their music. The drummer was there to provide a beat but this was in the background to the melody line/vocal harmonies. A hard rock/prog drummer like Peart is asked to do a lot more because part of the appeal of hard rock/prog is how well the individual musicians play their instruments. The songs are a showcase of not just the music but of their individual talent.

I don't think you can go wrong with Peart, Bruford, Copeland, Moon, Bonham, Palmer, Portnoy, and Bozzio. All do amazing things in their own way.

Peart is the easiest prog drummer to cop licks from. Vinnie Colauita is one of the hardest.

Obviously, you are a drummer. That probably makes you more qualified to judge whether one drummer is technically better than another drummer. However, everyone can have an opinion as to who they think is the "best drummer" based on whatever criteria they think is important. Obviously, a lot of people in this thread think Peart has some merit because they like to listen to Rush, they like to listen to his drumming, or a combination of both. Whether you mean it or not, your critizism of Peart is coming off very douchy.

By the way, who does Vinnie Colauita play for?

I know him from his days with Zappa. I know he's done a lot more as well.

Spending a lot of his time with Sting over the past decade, and you can see him backing up Jeff Beck lately.

No mention of Steve Gadd in this thread yet. Dude can lay down the thickest, tastiest marching-style groove. Also been on a million different pop tracks over the past few decades.

One of my favorite drum tracks EVER is a triple drum solo between Gadd, Calaiuta and Dave Weckl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6b_nBM-V8

jump to 2:48 to see Steve lay down the marching groove that the other 2 solo over.

Love how Gadd almost hops out of his throne on some of the heavy accents.

Yeah, Gadd is probably THE most influential drummer since he came onto the scene in the 70's. Here is a clip of he explaning one of the most classic rock drum fills ever recorded to a whole new generation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py0FdS-e960

 

[Amused to Death]

Here is a great review of one of the most influential rock albums recorded, that even Peart may have been influence by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBOwDewubIo

Thanks for the great link! Is it just me or does McLaughlin look like Phil Dunphy in some of those stills? LOL.

 

[joey]

I personally never thought Ringo was much of a drummer, but that was mainly because I don't think he was asked to do a whole lot with the Beatles. The Beatles are the greatest vocal/melody line band ever and that was the main focus of their music. The drummer was there to provide a beat but this was in the background to the melody line/vocal harmonies. A hard rock/prog drummer like Peart is asked to do a lot more because part of the appeal of hard rock/prog is how well the individual musicians play their instruments. The songs are a showcase of not just the music but of their individual talent.

I don't think you can go wrong with Peart, Bruford, Copeland, Moon, Bonham, Palmer, Portnoy, and Bozzio. All do amazing things in their own way.

Peart is the easiest prog drummer to cop licks from. Vinnie Colauita is one of the hardest.

Obviously, you are a drummer. That probably makes you more qualified to judge whether one drummer is technically better than another drummer. However, everyone can have an opinion as to who they think is the "best drummer" based on whatever criteria they think is important. Obviously, a lot of people in this thread think Peart has some merit because they like to listen to Rush, they like to listen to his drumming, or a combination of both. Whether you mean it or not, your critizism of Peart is coming off very douchy.

By the way, who does Vinnie Colauita play for?

I know him from his days with Zappa. I know he's done a lot more as well.

Spending a lot of his time with Sting over the past decade, and you can see him backing up Jeff Beck lately.

No mention of Steve Gadd in this thread yet. Dude can lay down the thickest, tastiest marching-style groove. Also been on a million different pop tracks over the past few decades.

One of my favorite drum tracks EVER is a triple drum solo between Gadd, Calaiuta and Dave Weckl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6b_nBM-V8

jump to 2:48 to see Steve lay down the marching groove that the other 2 solo over.

Love how Gadd almost hops out of his throne on some of the heavy accents.

Yeah, Gadd is probably THE most influential drummer since he came onto the scene in the 70's. Here is a clip of he explaning one of the most classic rock drum fills ever recorded to a whole new generation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py0FdS-e960

another GREAT Gadd clip. A drum beat in a song that most "regular folk" wouldn't think twice about, but a drum beat that most drummers are in awe of to this day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

You guys make me never want to listen to music ever again.

 

[[icon]]

Yeah, Gadd is probably THE most influential drummer since he came onto the scene in the 70's. Here is a clip of he explaning one of the most classic rock drum fills ever recorded to a whole new generation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py0FdS-e960

another GREAT Gadd clip. A drum beat in a song that most "regular folk" wouldn't think twice about, but a drum beat that most drummers are in awe of to this day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

Can totally hear the drum corps influence... awesome.

 

[drummer]

Yeah, Gadd is probably THE most influential drummer since he came onto the scene in the 70's. Here is a clip of he explaning one of the most classic rock drum fills ever recorded to a whole new generation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py0FdS-e960

another GREAT Gadd clip. A drum beat in a song that most "regular folk" wouldn't think twice about, but a drum beat that most drummers are in awe of to this day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

Can totally hear the drum corps influence... awesome.

Gadd served in the Army before he launched into his still stellar career, and the military drum rudiment style really is the base his of concepts.

 

[drummer]

Here is a great mini-doc on Gadd:

http://vimeo.com/31168987

 

[joey]

You guys make me never want to listen to music ever again.

if Gadd doesn't get this back on track, nothing will. He has magical powers and stuff.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

You guys make me never want to listen to music ever again.

 

[Otis]

I don't get the whole jazz thing...why are jazz drummers supposedly better? Is it cause of that brush thing they use?

Wackier time signatures and offbeat fills.

Hmmm. Pretty sure Neil could handle that.

Probably true.

 

[Gr00vus]

David Garibaldi is great also, though he'd probably be considered more funk/R&B/jazz than rock. I love how he works with the horn section.

 

[Otis]

You guys make me never want to listen to music ever again.

 

[joey]

Here is a great mini-doc on Gadd:

http://vimeo.com/31168987

thanks for sharing that. Killer video.

btw, Peart was the first guy who I really wanted to copy as a young drummer. He just played fills all the time which, as a young kid thrashing in the basement, was what you wanted to do. Throw in the odd time signatures and it turned it up a notch as a young drum student.

But as I grew older, I looked more for *taste* and *economy* than for balls-to-the-wall showy drumming.

I still love Peart and it's kind of like "going home again" for me to listen to him. A time warp to the basement back in Brooklyn where my poor neighbors, through attached housing walls, had to endure me hacking away and trying to learn La Villa Strangiato over and over for weeks.

But, these days, I dig guys who play like Grohl and Hawkins and that driving rock, very emotional and energetic drumming. The kind of stuff where I imagine I could play the whole song with only a kick, snare and cymbals and rock the #### out of it. Love that stuff.

 

[drummer]

Here is a great mini-doc on Gadd:

http://vimeo.com/31168987

thanks for sharing that. Killer video.

btw, Peart was the first guy who I really wanted to copy as a young drummer. He just played fills all the time which, as a young kid thrashing in the basement, was what you wanted to do. Throw in the odd time signatures and it turned it up a notch as a young drum student.

But as I grew older, I looked more for *taste* and *economy* than for balls-to-the-wall showy drumming.

I still love Peart and it's kind of like "going home again" for me to listen to him. A time warp to the basement back in Brooklyn where my poor neighbors, through attached housing walls, had to endure me hacking away and trying to learn La Villa Strangiato over and over for weeks.

But, these days, I dig guys who play like Grohl and Hawkins and that driving rock, very emotional and energetic drumming. The kind of stuff where I imagine I could play the whole song with only a kick, snare and cymbals and rock the #### out of it. Love that stuff.

Everybody in high school wanted to be Peart. One guy really had him down, a great player, and later wound up gigging with Ronnie Montrose.

I was more into Stewart Copeland, Nigel Olssen, and the great studio cats back then like Gadd. I was also into punk and "New Wave", and a huge fan of The Clash with Topper Headon as well as ska. I also was into the metal of that day too. I grew up playing to Ringo and The Doors, then to R&B, then the stuff in HS, to then getting into electric and acoustic jazz. While others were into Peart, I was into Simon Phillips, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colauita and Billy Cobham to then my all time hero in Tony Williams. They were into Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, I was into Allan Holdsworth and Al DiMeola.

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

 

[drummer]

I don't get the whole jazz thing...why are jazz drummers supposedly better? Is it cause of that brush thing they use?

Wackier time signatures and offbeat fills.

Most jazz is in regular 4/4 time, or blues forms like 12/8. They just make it seem like it's in another time signature.

Right. "Some" jazz is in wackier time signatures with offbeat fills. Basically, all rock is 4/4 (save for a few exceptions here and there). Put another way, I'd venture a guess that the vast majority of rock drummers have never publicly performed a song in anything other than a basic time signature, while the vast majority of jazz drummers have performed songs in alternative time signatures.

Yeah, but most standards are still "spang spang a-lang" on the ride cymbal. To learn jazz four way independence, it's that cymbal beat starting on the one, with the hi-hat on the two and the four, bass drum on all four, with the left hand playing more around it with a shuffle pattern, or comping. Be-bop drummers broke away from that and used more poly-rhythmic stuff, and played stuff over the bar line and accenting around the time, breaking it up to create more freedom within the four.

 

[bigbottom]

Here is a great mini-doc on Gadd:

http://vimeo.com/31168987

thanks for sharing that. Killer video.

btw, Peart was the first guy who I really wanted to copy as a young drummer. He just played fills all the time which, as a young kid thrashing in the basement, was what you wanted to do. Throw in the odd time signatures and it turned it up a notch as a young drum student.

But as I grew older, I looked more for *taste* and *economy* than for balls-to-the-wall showy drumming.

I still love Peart and it's kind of like "going home again" for me to listen to him. A time warp to the basement back in Brooklyn where my poor neighbors, through attached housing walls, had to endure me hacking away and trying to learn La Villa Strangiato over and over for weeks.

But, these days, I dig guys who play like Grohl and Hawkins and that driving rock, very emotional and energetic drumming. The kind of stuff where I imagine I could play the whole song with only a kick, snare and cymbals and rock the #### out of it. Love that stuff.

Everybody in high school wanted to be Peart. One guy really had him down, a great player, and later wound up gigging with Ronnie Montrose.

I was more into Stewart Copeland, Nigel Olssen, and the great studio cats back then like Gadd. I was also into punk and "New Wave", and a huge fan of The Clash with Topper Headon as well as ska. I also was into the metal of that day too. I grew up playing to Ringo and The Doors, then to R&B, then the stuff in HS, to then getting into electric and acoustic jazz. While others were into Peart, I was into Simon Phillips, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colauita and Billy Cobham to then my all time hero in Tony Williams. They were into Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, I was into Allan Holdsworth and Al DiMeola.

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

A guy I briefly played in a band with had Peart down as well. He was 16 I think. We did Tom Sawyer in our set and I remmebr he played it perfectly. Every friggin fill was spot on. Now this might be an argument against Peart's greatness, but this kid I played with was a bona fide musical prodigy. Went on to study music at UCLA and Harvard and now scores films. Big films. Blockbusters. And he composed the new Marvel theme. So when Otis talks about all his band buddies who still live in their parents' basements, I always think of the guy who I played with in a high school band who is now filthy rich composing and performing at the highest levels of music. Dude is like 10,000 times more successful than me, and even 10 times more successful than Chet. Stoked that I got to play with him.

 

[drummer]

Here is a great mini-doc on Gadd:

http://vimeo.com/31168987

thanks for sharing that. Killer video.

btw, Peart was the first guy who I really wanted to copy as a young drummer. He just played fills all the time which, as a young kid thrashing in the basement, was what you wanted to do. Throw in the odd time signatures and it turned it up a notch as a young drum student.

But as I grew older, I looked more for *taste* and *economy* than for balls-to-the-wall showy drumming.

I still love Peart and it's kind of like "going home again" for me to listen to him. A time warp to the basement back in Brooklyn where my poor neighbors, through attached housing walls, had to endure me hacking away and trying to learn La Villa Strangiato over and over for weeks.

But, these days, I dig guys who play like Grohl and Hawkins and that driving rock, very emotional and energetic drumming. The kind of stuff where I imagine I could play the whole song with only a kick, snare and cymbals and rock the #### out of it. Love that stuff.

Everybody in high school wanted to be Peart. One guy really had him down, a great player, and later wound up gigging with Ronnie Montrose.

I was more into Stewart Copeland, Nigel Olssen, and the great studio cats back then like Gadd. I was also into punk and "New Wave", and a huge fan of The Clash with Topper Headon as well as ska. I also was into the metal of that day too. I grew up playing to Ringo and The Doors, then to R&B, then the stuff in HS, to then getting into electric and acoustic jazz. While others were into Peart, I was into Simon Phillips, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colauita and Billy Cobham to then my all time hero in Tony Williams. They were into Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, I was into Allan Holdsworth and Al DiMeola.

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

A guy I briefly played in a band with had Peart down as well. He was 16 I think. We did Tom Sawyer in our set and I remmebr he played it perfectly. Every friggin fill was spot on. Now this might be an argument against Peart's greatness, but this kid I played with was a bona fide musical prodigy. Went on to study music at UCLA and Harvard and now scores films. Big films. Blockbusters. And he composed the new Marvel theme. So when Otis talks about all his band buddies who still live in their parents' basements, I always think of the guy who I played with in a high school band who is now filthy rich composing and performing at the highest levels of music. Dude is like 10,000 times more successful than me, and even 10 times more successful than Chet. Stoked that I got to play with him.

That's awesome. There are a lot of people who I know that are more successful than I working in the industry, but that never takes me away from still learning about how I play the drums and approach music. I just don't play that often as I would like to, and a lot of people I know always asks me why. I eventually will get back to playing again, and even consulted Hal Blaine about it.

The real fun thing to do with Rush music in play it on a small kit, and play it different from Peart. Yes you can play YYZ on a four piece kit. You just gotta find ways to do it.

 

[Otis]

Here is a great mini-doc on Gadd:

http://vimeo.com/31168987

thanks for sharing that. Killer video.

btw, Peart was the first guy who I really wanted to copy as a young drummer. He just played fills all the time which, as a young kid thrashing in the basement, was what you wanted to do. Throw in the odd time signatures and it turned it up a notch as a young drum student.

But as I grew older, I looked more for *taste* and *economy* than for balls-to-the-wall showy drumming.

I still love Peart and it's kind of like "going home again" for me to listen to him. A time warp to the basement back in Brooklyn where my poor neighbors, through attached housing walls, had to endure me hacking away and trying to learn La Villa Strangiato over and over for weeks.

But, these days, I dig guys who play like Grohl and Hawkins and that driving rock, very emotional and energetic drumming. The kind of stuff where I imagine I could play the whole song with only a kick, snare and cymbals and rock the #### out of it. Love that stuff.

Everybody in high school wanted to be Peart. One guy really had him down, a great player, and later wound up gigging with Ronnie Montrose.

I was more into Stewart Copeland, Nigel Olssen, and the great studio cats back then like Gadd. I was also into punk and "New Wave", and a huge fan of The Clash with Topper Headon as well as ska. I also was into the metal of that day too. I grew up playing to Ringo and The Doors, then to R&B, then the stuff in HS, to then getting into electric and acoustic jazz. While others were into Peart, I was into Simon Phillips, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colauita and Billy Cobham to then my all time hero in Tony Williams. They were into Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, I was into Allan Holdsworth and Al DiMeola.

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

A guy I briefly played in a band with had Peart down as well. He was 16 I think. We did Tom Sawyer in our set and I remmebr he played it perfectly. Every friggin fill was spot on. Now this might be an argument against Peart's greatness, but this kid I played with was a bona fide musical prodigy. Went on to study music at UCLA and Harvard and now scores films. Big films. Blockbusters. And he composed the new Marvel theme. So when Otis talks about all his band buddies who still live in their parents' basements, I always think of the guy who I played with in a high school band who is now filthy rich composing and performing at the highest levels of music. Dude is like 10,000 times more successful than me, and even 10 times more successful than Chet. Stoked that I got to play with him.

That's pretty awesome. It's a lottery ticket. For every guy like this there have to be a thousand guys living in their parents` basements or leeching off their girlfriend. But it's stories like his that keep the dream alive.

I also jammed on occasion with a guy when we were in high school who was a huge Peart fab and could pay that stuff flawlessly. Easily the best drummer in all the local neighborhoods. No idea what happened to him, he was a good dude, we lost rich after high school and he's either dead or I've of the few idiots out there not on Facebook. Frustrating as hell when people do that.

 

[Amused to Death]

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

Pretty sure Harrison is part of the new incarnation of Crimson. Saw him several times with Porcupine Tree.

Edit: He's part of a 3-drummer attack along with Pat Mastalotto and ex-REM drummer Bill Rieflin.

 

[drummer]

I don't get the whole jazz thing...why are jazz drummers supposedly better? Is it cause of that brush thing they use?

Wackier time signatures and offbeat fills.

Not to mention generally a cleaner sound and a little more use of "touch" to modulate the tone of the strike.

Many jazz drummers come from drum corps and have a mastery of various rudiments and other technical aspects of drumming that the vast vast majority of rock drummers lack. Jazz drummers tend to understand that percussion is often as much about what you DON'T play as what you do play.

Nice little taste of Galactic's Stanton Moore off their album "coolin off" which is in my top 10 albums of all time. Great swing, and Moore is a mother####ing metronome. Moore is the your favorite pair of Levis as Peart is to Elton John's sequined stretch pants.... he's not showy about it but he's getting it done in a truly classic fashion.

Stanton Moore is a fave of mine. I started getting into New Orleans drum styles years ago, and even tried to hook up with Zig Modeliste in SF to cop some lessons. Zig and I talked over the phone back and forth for a bit, but it was hard to get a lesson in with his schedule. Moore in a clinic talked about how hard it was to cop some Zig lessons too, so that made me feel better lol.

I think this is Zig in a Lee Dorsey classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzvF0qnozsg

BTW, this is awesome New Orleans drumming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDS5_zrQss

 

[drummer]

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

Pretty sure Harrison is part of the new incarnation of Crimson. Saw him several times with Porcupine Tree.

Edit: He's part of a 3-drummer attack along with Pat Mastalotto and ex-REM drummer Bill Rieflin.

Harrison with King Crimson? That's awesome. That's some kind of drum trio though. Looks like a must see show.

 

[McGarnicle]

Shocked no one's mentioned Tommy Lee.

 

[Amused to Death]

Now, drummers I dig are Gergo Borlai, JoJo Mayer, Gavin Harrison, Stanton Moore and quite a few others I fail to mention at this time. But Copeland was the guy for me for a long time as far as rock drummers. Topper Headon was maybe second, then Bonham. Bozzio is also another in my formative years. Once I got into the progressive stuff, Peart and Rush were just plain boring to me.

Pretty sure Harrison is part of the new incarnation of Crimson. Saw him several times with Porcupine Tree.

Edit: He's part of a 3-drummer attack along with Pat Mastalotto and ex-REM drummer Bill Rieflin.

Harrison with King Crimson? That's awesome. That's some kind of drum trio though. Looks like a must see show.

Yeah its a 7 piece band at this point; the 3 drummers, Fripp, Levin, Mel Collins (flute/sax), and Jakko Jakszyk (guitar/vocals) whom I know nothing about but probably should get up to speed before the album release and subsequent tour.

 

[Otis]

Steven Adler down?

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

I'm not going to say he's the best ever, but he's ####### really good.

 

[bigbottom]

Does anyone remember the reality show where Tomnmy Lee goes to college? Nebraska, I think. It was hilarious. But the thing that stood out to me was that part of Tommy's college experience was to join the marching band's drum line and the dude couldn't play basic snare rhythms. Brutal.