Who is your favorite all-time drummer?

Hotshoe

All-Conference
Feb 15, 2012
24,465
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Easy one for me. Charlie Watts. He made the Stones with his jazz background and 3-beat rhythm. He made Keith Richards sound like a God along with Ronnie. What a gift to grow up in that era of music. We were absolutely blessed.
 

LionJim

Heisman
Oct 12, 2021
12,528
17,273
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Easy one for me. Charlie Watts. He made the Stones with his jazz background and 3-beat rhythm. He made Keith Richards sound like a God along with Ronnie. What a gift to grow up in that era of music. We were absolutely blessed.
Mick: “I don’t know what we’d do without Charlie.”
 
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SleepyLion

All-Conference
Sep 1, 2022
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drummer muppets GIF
 

Grant Green

All-Conference
Jan 21, 2004
3,149
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Ginger Baker. with Neil Peart a close second
Baker is one of the best rock drummers. I agree with his opinion on the best …..


There is a ream of drummers whom Baker considered some of the finest percussionists in the world. After being posed the hypothesis that he was the best drummer ever by Forbes, Baker casually replied: “I wouldn’t quite say that. I think I’m one of them, for sure. I had my own thing, which Phil Seamen had, which Art Blakey had. When you hear them playing, you know who it is.”

Adding: “Max Roach, ‘Philly’ Joe Jones, Elvin Jones. It goes back to ‘Papa’ Jo Jones and [Warren] Baby Dodds. All of these guys had a huge influence on me, but I didn’t copy them. Probably the biggest influence was Phil Seamen. He was God.”
 

Mr. Potter

All-Conference
Oct 18, 2021
1,536
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Fella, I went to elementary school with John Roberts. Later come to find out he was a professional drummer who married Professional Singer Jil Scott.

Shalom
 
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Apr 12, 2018
156
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I judge drummers simply by how fun they are to watch… with that said (in no order)

Cozy Powell
Ian Paice
Budgie [Siouxsie and the Banshees]
Stewart Copeland
AVH
Nicko McBrain
Brent deBoer ( Dandy Warhols)
Philthy Animal Taylor (Motörhead)
Murph (Dinosaur Jr)
Torry Castellano [the Donnas]
Charlie Watts
Aksel Holmgren {ghost BC}
Peart

all time favorite = Cozy
 
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MtNittany

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
2,469
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Not my favorite, but a ton of respect.

Hal Blaine played on 150 Top 10 Billboard hits, forty of which went to #1, and on more than 260 gold or platinum singles and albums. He played on an astonishing, and unequaled, six consecutive Grammy winners for Record of the Year: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’s “A Taste of Honey” (1966), Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” (1967), The 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up, and Away” (1968), Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” (1969), the 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (1970), and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in 1971.
 
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MtNittany

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Oct 12, 2021
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Charlie Watts of course. Artemis Pile. Jeff Porcaro, Keith Moon. Mick Tucker seemed cool and skilled. I liked the way he would eventually mock the lip-syncing in some videos. An old friend from Williamsport Tim Yasui (Spiders and Snakes) is a great drummer, now a record exec/producer in LA.
 
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Steve JG

Senior
Mar 25, 2024
401
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Easy one for me. Charlie Watts. He made the Stones with his jazz background and 3-beat rhythm. He made Keith Richards sound like a God along with Ronnie. What a gift to grow up in that era of music. We were absolutely blessed.
complicated question as there are so many who are the best in the time and place at what they do and fit the music they are playing. here are are a couple of mine as a drummer who is 3 to 10 orders of magnitude worse player.

Joe Morello absolute embodiment of cool (FF to 4:39 if you are impatient)


Obviously Buddy as an example of maximum drum technique and capability that we all spire to (even though he. was well know A hole of epic proportions. I know people who played with him and the stories do not even do justice to how big of a nozzle he was)



Gene Krupa the man who literally invented the modern drum set and drum set technique (I have a 1938 Slingerland Gene Krupa Radio king drum set which is as close as I get to being able to play like him) FF to 1:45





Elvin Jones who was unique beyond measure in how he played



I could go on. There are so many
 

PSU Mike

All-Conference
Jul 28, 2001
2,972
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I don’ care ‘bout best, but when I hear/see Keith Moon it raises things.

And I always loved the Dave Barbarossa Burundi-based sound for Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow.
 
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MtNittany

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
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Mick Tucker & Sweet at Musikladen 11.11.1974. Obviously Sweet should be in the joke rrhof. No brainer.

 

Tgar

Heisman
Nov 14, 2001
5,290
11,657
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Yeah, Have to say, having seen Ringo and Levon Helm numerous times, from a rock perspective, both of those drummers play what’s needed without overplaying. Really solid drummers.
 
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NoSoup4U

Senior
Jan 17, 2002
505
742
93
Hmm I dunno.... this seems to have turned into a best drummer not favorite drummer thread

I would put my favorite as Chad Smith anyone that can go toe to toe with Ferrell has got sumthin'


 

Nitt1300

Heisman
Nov 2, 2008
5,937
11,074
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Mick Fleetwood- he and John McVie never overplayed, they were always just right there

 
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Grant Green

All-Conference
Jan 21, 2004
3,149
4,288
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Underrated rock drummer - Mitch Mitchell
A cool video if anyone wants a more technical breakdown of what makes a good drummer.
A very typical drum pattern involves playing the kick drum on beats 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4. It's cool to see how often Mitchell moves the kick and snare so they aren't on those beats.