Best Drummers

Star for mentioning Omar Hakim! He's one of my all time favorites.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Carl Palmer (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Asia fame). I would also add Chester Thompson to the list. He played with Weather Report and hits the road with Genesis - the drum duet with him and Phil Collins was one of coolest things I've seen.

reply to post by seeker1963


I agree!

What about Rick Allen? Def Leppard drummer... lost an arm and can still play drums !!



Not my favorite band/genre of music but got to give him a kudos for ability!

Neil Peart ......top


Billy Cobham ...in Mahavishnu Orchestra



Thomas Lang


up and comer Dylan Elise

Maybe late, but I also think John Bonham. Maybe not the fastest, but my favorite when it comes to choice of tone etc. He played with such emotion, really a bold, cool sould.

Like this intro, played from a stairwell I think:

RomaSempre
Star for mentioning Omar Hakim! He's one of my all time favorites.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Carl Palmer (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Asia fame). I would also add Chester Thompson to the list. He played with Weather Report and hits the road with Genesis - the drum duet with him and Phil Collins was one of coolest things I've seen.

LOL! I mentioned Carl Palmer.

Neil Pert is an interdimensional genius.

John Bonham kept time a half a beat off.
Genius unmatched!

Shannon Larkin, is just to much fun to
watch not to be a genius.

reply to post by minkmouse


Right. I'm too lazy to get all the links and post them. Look 'em up if you like.

Nick D'Virgilio - Spock's Beard - Don't Try This At Home - Full concert. ALso Spock's Beard Live, but he's the frontman by this time. There is a drum duel with Jimmy Keegan, the touring drummer that is now in the band(Nick left, it's a whole thing). Not unlike what Genesis did when Peter Gabriel left.

Mike Portnoy - Dream Theater - Live:Scenes From New York - Full Concert, concept album, their magnum opus IMHO. Also, Dream Theater's Instrumedley from Budokan is crazy.

Mark Zonder - Fates Warning - At Fates Hands. The guy baffles me.

One example I'd recommend from Neil Peart is in the Rush In Rio concert, the song Earthshine. The tempo never changes but the beats do, giving different feels to riffs, then seamlessley goes into three bars with three beats and one of two(or a six and a five), whatever, it's eleven(Can it really go that loud?) which are, suffice to say, somewhat odd times to play in. Yet they are one of the biggest bands on the planet. If you haven't seen the documentary Rush:Behind The Lighted Stage, I very highly recommend it. Many anti-Rushians have been turned into fans and it's pretty much the reason they finally got into the RnR Hall Of Shame.

Or you could just buy all the Rush albums. I'm a Rush geek, though. Not exactly impartial.

Check out Deep Purple's Space Trucking from Made In Japan and Live In London. Extended jams and Ian paice keeps it all together. Those are album, you can also see the version from the California Jam where Ritchie Blackmore blows up the stage.......and Ian keeps it all together, again.

Totally underrated - Dave Hope - Kansas

Jerry Gaskill - King's X
The two guys that have been in Opeth.
Van Romaine - The Steve Morse Band


That should keep you busy for a few minutes.

wow after the names you mentioned, then the guy said Bill Bruford, suddenly I don't feel so alone in the world. Virgil Donati is fun to watch.

karen carpenter



terry bozio

just for fun, blue hair is pretty famous.





the late mike shrive

I'd be surprised if there is a drummer somewhere who can top Neil Peart for sheer matchless all-round awesomeness.

KISS's Peter Criss isn't generally recognised but on this live performance from way back in 1975, he proves he could be pretty badass.

His solo kicks in at 2:50 and it's pure sex.

Alex Van Halen
(cannot believe nobody mentioned him)

a reply to: minkmouse

When it comes to Jazz , these are who I consider to be the Best at Drumming .


Buddy Rich
Art Blakey
Max Roach
Philly Joe Jones
Shelly Manne
Kenny Clarke
Elvin Jones
Sonny Payne
Shadow Wilson
Roy Haynes
Art Taylor
Don Lamond
Stan Levy
Charles Persip
Chic Webb
Papa Jo Jones
Cris Columbo
Jake Hanna
Connie Kay
Ed Shaughnessy
Ed Thigpen
Frank Butler
Grady Tate
Jimmy Woods
Junior Bradley
Louie Bellson
Gene Krupa
Mel Lewis
Walter Perkins

a reply to: minkmouse

Buddy Rich is Still the All Time Best Drummer . He is Sycnopatin' in Heaven Right Now .........


www.youtube.com...

a reply to: buster2010


Bang on Copeland is the best ever

Inferno from Behemoth is beast. Some people don't care for the style of music but if nothing else you at least have to respect the speed he plays at and the relative level of complexity given the speed. NOTE: both the videos below are covers, I've provided covers both for a better visual, and also because most live recordings I could find on youtube had subpar sound quality. Hearing his drumming on a studio album is one thing, but it's 10x better live, in person; unfortunately the covers are the closest I can find to that.






Same goes for Kai Hahto from Wintersun. The following video isn't a cover.





Also, there's Thomen Stauch from Savage Circus who played with Blind Guardian previously.

Few of my favorite Rock/Metal Drummers.

Danny Carey -Tool
Phil Selway -Radiohead
Dave Lombardo -Slayer, Grip Inc.
Dave Grohl -Nirvana, Foo Fighters
Stewart Copeland- The Police, Oysterhead

I agree with one who said it isn't all just about speed. At least not for me. Tone (although the engineer might have alot to do with that), and Originality. Selway and Copeland, to me, deliver this "originality" the most.

An honorable mention, Psychedelic Rock band 'Tame Impala's' drummer Jay Watson. In fact, as far as tone goes, from kick-you-in-the-teeth drums, to the crackily-distorted-to-perfection guitar tones... do yourself a favor and steal some Tame Impala. They're Like... Cream meets the Beatles meets Beta Band.