The (Factually) Greatest Drummer - Progressive Rock Music Forum

(repeat as necessary)

What?

Getting back to the premise of the thread, I don't think drumming 'quality' can be measured in any way, unless he/she isn't keeping the beat. It's a feel thing, and it's about how you add a certain whiff of the intangible to the proceedings. Anybody out there who has sat behind a drumkit will tell you that it is damn hard just keeping the beat at first, but then when you get it under your skin, the tricky thing then becomes playing off beat and out of sync. Most of the guys highlighted in this thread are absolutely outstanding drummers, no doubt - but, and I am speaking personally here, they all lack a fundamental trade that sets them apart from any other metronome time keeper: the ability to utilise mistakes. Yep, I am like the never ending broken record in regards to this subject, but I think it is monumentally important to how music works. If the timekeeping ingredient of any new progressive rock band dare not venture out past the tried and tested rhythmic boxes, then how is the music ever going to be anything other than a chip of the old block? I know, not very concise and clear, but then again how does one go about explaining such a thing...

Drummers are important to the drive of the music, and when you decide to be a timekeeper instead of a rhythmic explorer, that's the very second you carve out the perimeter of your band's sound - how far you can go and still keep the beat. BUT the beat can also be the beat when played at abnormal speeds and out of order. Mistakes should be allowed and encouraged - mind you when done right, they loose the 'mistake' part of the word and just becomes something unique.

Maybe I am expressing myself clumsily, so these next clips will hopefully showcase my point. It's about drive, feel and groove rather than playing impossible time signatures.

Elephant9

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Edited by Guldbamsen - October 10 2012 at 13:35

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

- Douglas Adams

dtguitarfan wrote:

...they have THE (FACTUALLY) Greatest Drummer alive!

I like Mangini better than Portnoy, but to say he is the Greatest Drummer... Shocked

Lightning fast chops - no question. But, this is a qualitatively loaded comment: How do you really define "Greatest?"

Probably already came up, but...

Let`s pretend I'm a drummer. Let`s also pretend I've recorded some awesome drum fills and I beat Mangini's world record by 15%.

BUT I've never managed to play any of my fills perfectly live, and I can't hold a simple 4/4 beat. Who's the better drummer? Wink

@ProgFollower on Twitter. Tweet me muzak.

Also Guitar Pro is fast if I set his bpt to 5000. So what?

Guldbamsen wrote:

Getting back to the premise of the thread, I don't think drumming 'quality' can be measured in any way, unless he/she isn't keeping the beat.

Errr... what does that tell us about say, ... Lars Ulrich? Wink

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I don't see any reason to end the thread! The more people who continue to argue, the more people see that Mangini is the only drummer with facts backing up his bestness! Wink

My 2012 List

Mangini is so factually the best that it took Dream Theater three days with seven hopefuls auditioning to decide on him.

https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays

Angelo wrote:

Guldbamsen wrote:

Getting back to the premise of the thread, I don't think drumming 'quality' can be measured in any way, unless he/she isn't keeping the beat.

Errr... what does that tell us about say, ... Lars Ulrich? Wink

As a Dane, I can't help feel just a wee bit warmly about Lars. No matter what you may think of the man, you get what you get. He is the guy he portrays himself as he is, no gimmicks. He is very much the type of a certain Copenhagen resident, and I kind of dig that about him....
As for the drumming? I loved him back in the mid 80s, but now it's too uniform for my tastes.

My point earlier though had more to do about what happens when you go outside of the beat and play awkward with a purpose.

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

- Douglas Adams