A good drummer knows the music better than you and can take you on a ride with them .
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What makes a drummer great?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
The tools in their toolbox. Their ability to play soft/low volume, the use of different sticks, techniques, unusual rythm patterns (aka creativity) etc. Pretty much the same that distingushies any muscician, tbh.
I think for a drummer it's also extra important to be very fluid, and able to roll with it if something should go wrong. As in, unaffected by a mistake (theirs or a band members), and able to maintain the rythm etc.
Oh, and any drummer that shows up to anything with tuned drums is allright by me.
Check out Louis Cole. One of the best drummers out there at this time, imo.
I think for a drummer it's also extra important to be very fluid, and able to roll with it if something should go wrong. As in, unaffected by a mistake (theirs or a band members), and able to maintain the rythm etc.
Oh, and any drummer that shows up to anything with tuned drums is allright by me.
Check out Louis Cole. One of the best drummers out there at this time, imo.
TL;DR the thread.
What kind(s) of music are we talking here?
The common traits of a "great" drummer across all kinds of music could be a small subset of the traits that typify "greatness" in any one or another kind alone.
I've always admired Dannie Richmond: besides the daunting task of keeping up with Mingus, being a former sax player, he had a admirable theory about keeping his work out on the edges of the bars and out of the way of the harmonic instruments. He was unselfish in that respect. Often what he didn't play was crucial...
He's an ATG for sure. His resume speaks for itself.
Good drummers are critical elements of good ensembles, providing several essential pieces of the puzzle.
Volume. Drummers are literally the volume knob for the band, performing the part a conductor in an orchestra performs. Inexperienced drummers don’t get this part, and instead support the volume wars. Great drummers LISTEN to the whole mix and move the dynamics around to support the vocals and solos. Awareness and ears are required. Most don’t have it.
Backbeat. Sorry folks, but the downbeat isn’t as important as the backbeat in 95% of the pop music we play. That kick drum is not filling up the dance floor. Snare shots or sock pops depending on the tune need to be the loudest element coming out of the kit. The rest is ornamental, taking up space and time.
Time. Kind of falls out of the awareness of the Backbeat; but, having great time wired in helps a lot.
Hearing the whole mix and being easy to work with.
The very best drummers I have had the privilege to work with have all those traits, and make bass playing easy.
Volume. Drummers are literally the volume knob for the band, performing the part a conductor in an orchestra performs. Inexperienced drummers don’t get this part, and instead support the volume wars. Great drummers LISTEN to the whole mix and move the dynamics around to support the vocals and solos. Awareness and ears are required. Most don’t have it.
Backbeat. Sorry folks, but the downbeat isn’t as important as the backbeat in 95% of the pop music we play. That kick drum is not filling up the dance floor. Snare shots or sock pops depending on the tune need to be the loudest element coming out of the kit. The rest is ornamental, taking up space and time.
Time. Kind of falls out of the awareness of the Backbeat; but, having great time wired in helps a lot.
Hearing the whole mix and being easy to work with.
The very best drummers I have had the privilege to work with have all those traits, and make bass playing easy.
I think being a good drummer should have similarities in any genre.
I was lucky enough to attend a drum clinic put on by Billy Cobham in the early 90s in my little hometown. There were only four or five of us in the “audience,” mainly consisting of my friends from school who marched in the drum line! He seriously blew our collective mind!
just to be funny, I'll say Mingus invented the first drum machine in the person of a non drummer who wan't pre programmed with all kinds of technical options and shticks. How to get the drummer to shut up was a real problem until the drum machine came around. Now good drummers can incorporate that into their own playing (unless they are never forced too by a song). Obviously Dannie Richmond could Swing with energy, and he wasn't incompetant at all. A refreshing non drummer approach has been used by other bands too...
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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It had to be incredible to be in such a small audience with one of the true virtuoso’s of the instrument.
Thank you. I’d never heard that song before.
Here he is with Sco and Gary Willis. I don’t normally use the word “sick” to describe music, maybe I’m the wrong age. But this is sick.
That’s Barry “Sonjohn” Johnson on bass. He is from Jamaica Queens, like Marcus Miller. I think he is a great underrated talent.
