Thursday, 30 April 2009

The Best Drummer in the World

It is one of those real dumb questions, well meaning but misguided. "Who is the best drummer in the world". It is like asking who is the best footballer or who is the best sportsperson. There are so many different skills and types of drumming that one person is not best at all of them. What we need are categories that we can group people into. For instance: Fastest drummer; Most versatile drummer; Time signature master; most varied playing; most driving drummer; most flexible footwork; most musical drummer; best recording production etc.
Then we can decide who we want to listen to in order to be inspired in a particular way.
I enjoy rock drummers but I quite enjoy the jazz elements that add a lot of interest to drumming. Every now and then I hear something special and something with a lot of dynamics and construction rather than a steady plodding metronome of a drum beat. That is cool.
Anyway, I am yet to hear many people touch Gav Harrison on his general ability in many areas. At the end of the day, the music sounds great and the drums are a large part. I used to think Neil Peart was real top quality but now I find his drumming for the most part was quite straight whereas Gav's is varied, versatile and interesting.

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