what do you look for in a drummer?

[playinpearls]

all good responses...

being a drummer, i have heard most of these before...but i always go back to a saying that a good friend of mine said....

"A great drummer is one that isn't noticed."

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

A good drummer makes the gig fun to play. It's about attitude, time, feel, interaction, a sense of humor.

[robgrow]

All my favorite drummers are masters of subtlety.

[pmckee]

i like drummers with a fat beat who are super easy to hook up with. jimmy cobb, philly joe. ray brown with ed thigpen. I haven't played with tons of drummers but I have played with enough to know which ones are easy to lock in with and which ones take some conscious effort to play with. i like the drummers who take charge and say "nope, this is it right here!"

[JLubinsky-Mast]

I read an interview with Ron Carter where he said the most important thing for him, is a drummer who can tune their drums in a way so that the bass isn't wiped out. I don't really feel comfortable enough to ask any drummer to tune their drum this way or that but when a drummer do this it makes a huge difference in the ease of my playing.
I also enjoy hearing a bit more than the closed hi-hat tap-tap-t-tap during a bass solo

[Dave Muscato]

Originally Posted by fingers

Can someone explain the "sense of meter" or "good meter" thing? Seriously. I've read it in a few posts and I'm not sure what is meant. Maybe it is a regional dialect thing.

I have a bigger problem with large bass drums than loud cymbals. There are definitely jazz cymbals and rock cymbals but any drummer worth his salt should know the difference. A big bass drum can kill the bass at will. I prefer a 16" or 18". I've heard good drummers make bigger one work but those are my favorite.

This is what is meant by good sense of meter:

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

Ebb & flow of the rhythm. The beats inside a measure should naturally, fluidly vary. If they are too tight (as how a metronome works), it doesn't sound right. Beats inside a measure should be in a state of flux. Being in tune to that flux (as it is different for every musician) is what makes a good drummer, IMO. It can take seconds, days, months, or years for any individual bassist & drummer playing together to properly tune in to that flux, but once you're there, oo-boy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew0Hs7-hX6E

Try setting a metronome to this and see what happens