Top 100 Drummer Quotes
#1. When I produce a record, I roll up my sleeves; I'm not one of those passive guys. I really get in there and make sure every note is measured. I tell the bass player, 'You have to play it like this,' or I tell the drummer, 'It's got to be like this.'
David Foster
#2. You can lead an uncommonly fine life. But it takes determination. You have to march to the beat of different drummer. You have to decide.
Frederick Lenz
#3. That's the thing that we said about the horn before: it's a focus issue. It's like a singer versus a drummer. If a drummer's playing a drum beat, and a singer starts singing, what do you think the audience is going to do?
Charlie Hunter
#4. Keith Moon is not interested in jazz and won't ever be a jazz drummer because he's more interested in looking good and being screamed at.
Pete Townshend
#5. I was playing in bands and doing gigs from the age of 14 on. I stopped at the age of 28. Technology replaced me. As soon as I saw what computers can do, I didn't think there would be a point for a live drummer.
Mitchell Joachim
#6. I started trying to do my own music at home, and I was like, 'You know what, I can play the guitar, sort of. And I can do these things, sort of. And I can make these crazy noises on my computer, sort of. But I need a ridiculously good drummer. I need someone to help me with string arrangements.'
Steve Burns
#7. Even when I go do comedy stuff live, I can still feel the drummer in me about to go onstage.
Fred Armisen
#8. Being a drummer, I'm always like, 'Oh, that's got a funky beat. That's cool,' and I like to dance.
Tommy Lee
#9. I've always liked to be the kind of drummer and musician who likes to go outside of what's expected of me.
Matt Cameron
#10. I try to keep my ear to the streets without sacrificing who I am as an artist. If a song needs a drum machine I'll use a drum machine. If it needs a drummer, I'll use a real drummer.
Teena Marie
#13. I consider every drummer that ever played before me an influence, in every way.
Buddy Rich
#14. I was always very aware of drummers. My oldest brother Henry was a drummer, and he drummed on everything in the house from the kitchen sink to stovepipes. He was the first drummer in the Gil Evans Orchestra, so you've got to know how great he was.
Dave Brubeck
#15. A determined Yankee book drummer once told a Southerner that 'a set of books on scientific agriculture' would teach him to 'farm twice as good as you do.' To which the Southerner replied: 'Hell, son, I don't farm half as good as I know how now.
Grady McWhiney
#17. If you call someone up on a mistake - if the drummer's put an extra beat in a bar or something - you have a lot more authority if you can show them how to do it right.
Steve Winwood
#18. My inner Jiminy was screaming at me to stop playing with fire again, but I was a moth drawn to a flaming hot drummer.
Kristen Hope Mazzola
#19. I'm a terrible drummer. I can tune 'em pretty good, but I'm a pretty bad drummer.
J. Robbins
#20. She had to get used to her new name, The Drummer. Twelfth, and last in line, but on a good note, she had the most money, and more importantly, she was alive.
Dayna S. Rubin
#21. It doesn't matter what songs we sing. I'm a drummer. Chicks dig me.
Larry Mullen Jr.
#22. I have an erratic drummer for anybody who's just listening to this, he can keep time, but just in spurts.
Demetri Martin
#23. My earliest musical memory was getting to watch my dad play drums in a local band. He's a banker by trade, but a drummer at heart. I remember seeing the guitar player do the solo from "Werewolves of London" with his teeth, and that was the moment that had me hooked.
Charlie Worsham
#24. I remember John walking on and starting to play, and my mouth sort of dropped open in disbelief at the power of the playing coming across the stage - and the technique! I've never, ever seen another drummer play quite the way he did.
Cozy Powell
#25. My son Wesley has just turned 13. He was 12 during the recording of this record and he is quite a drummer already and has been studying drums since he was four, but he's also very interested in African percussion and studies percussion.
Lee Ritenour
#26. Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson have rejoined and gone off again and rejoined, but I've been there the whole time, and even though Alan White is the 'new' drummer, he has been there since 1972, so he also deserves the credit for being around for 20 years.
Chris Squire
#27. Ringo isn't the best drummer in the world. He isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles
John Lennon
#28. But Apple really beats to a different drummer. I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business.
Steve Jobs
#29. I started an all-girl punk band when I was 14, and I was the drummer, not the singer.
Bjork
#30. I march to a different drummer, whose location, identity, and musical training haven't yet been established.
Ashleigh Brilliant
#31. Artt Frank is my all-time favorite drummer. He always seems to know where I'm going.
Chet Baker
#32. Most of it was nuts, but I was determined to be a drummer as soon as I left school.
John Bonham
#33. The Weezer 'Blue' Album is a classic. I think My Morning Jacket's 'Circuital' is a great album to have. Any Led Zeppelin album. Pink Floyd 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' or 'Animals.' I always catch myself at concerts being like, 'Oh, I just stared at the drummer for 15 straight minutes.' I study them.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
#34. I was a groupie for a year and followed a band. I dated the drummer of the band.
Malin Akerman
#35. But, I don't think any arranger should ever write a drum part for a drummer because if a drummer can't create his own Interpretation of the chart and he plays everything that's written, he becomes mechanical; he has no freedom.
Buddy Rich
#36. What's the last thing a drummer says in a band: Hey guys, why don't we try one of my songs?
Dave Grohl
#37. I was a jazz drummer, and it was my life for a while: what I lived and breathed every day.
Damien Chazelle
#38. Ten silver saxes, a bass with a bow, the drummer relaxes in between shows with his cinnamon girl.
Neil Young
#39. In high school no guys wanted to be in a band with me unless I was going to play bass or play grindcore or be in a scream-o band, so it was fun to finally have that experience of having my songs backed by a drummer and a bassist who were just as excited about it as I was.
Weyes Blood
#40. I think the drummer should sit back there and play some drums, and never mind about the tunes. Just get up there and wail behind whoever is sitting up there playing the solo. And this is what is lacking, definitely lacking in music today.
Buddy Rich
#41. I can't play anywhere near like I used to, and I was a hot drummer. It doesn't bother me, because frankly, if you get to that point where you can't hold a drumstick properly, there are many other things in life which are far more important, like cutting a loaf of bread or a piece of cheese.
Phil Collins
#42. The majority of my training was as a drummer, and drummers are basically accompanists.
Z'EV
#43. My friend Fred Coury, the drummer in '80s rock band Cinderella, told me that in the rock world, you're either still there, or you're struggling to get back to where you were.
Steve Valentine
#44. I love playing the drums - I really get a lot out of it - but I don't think I'm a good enough drummer to be playing live drums on all 10 tracks on my album.
Max Tundra
#45. There's only one drummer. We all travel to his beat. Well, I couldn't sing his song. Because for me, it wasn't a truthful statement. Well, Linda sang it, and it was a monster for her.
Barry McGuire
#46. My soul is that of a drummer ... I didn't do it to become rich and famous. I did it because it was the love of my life.
Ringo Starr
#47. When I asked Vera why Michael was so obstinate, she told me that some asshole had recently broken Eliza's heart. A drummer, no less. Hell, even I know girls should stay away from the goddamn drummers.
Tiffanie DeBartolo
#48. I warm naturally to the drummer whose ideas and approach are strong, even if he doesn't quite have the ability to carry them out.
Bill Bruford
#49. Sometimes I play guitar like a frustrated drummer.
Hal Sparks
#50. If you have a great band with a mediocre drummer, you have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band with a great drummer, you have a great band!
Duke Ellington
#51. That was the thing about Joy Division: writing the songs was dead easy because the group was really balanced; we had a great guitarist, a great drummer, a great bass player, a great singer.
Peter Hook
#52. I've been watching a lot of Joan Didion interviews on YouTube. I love her. My drummer has gotten me into looking at Terence McKenna interviews.
St. Vincent
#53. I love being a drummer but I love being a musician in general and I love the Foo fighters.
Dave Grohl
#54. I can play a bunch of instruments but drums? My brother's a drummer and I've always been jealous that he's such a good drummer. I always try to play but it's always kinda just bashing. I can keep time but no one really wants to hear me play drums.
Nat Wolff
#55. A bass player has to think and play like a bass player. A drummer has to play and think like a drummer, and stay out of the way of the vocalist. The guitar player has to respect everybody else.
Hunter Hayes
#56. I think - actually, I know - that I am, without a doubt, the world's worst drummer.
Matty Mullins
#57. I'm a rock-and-roll drummer, so my job is to create chaos.
Greg Saunier
#58. Ronnie Spector's hair was taller and meaner and scarier than all four Shangri-La's combined, plus the drummer from the Honeycombs. You just know her rat-tail comb was a switchblade.
Rob Sheffield
#59. I was a drummer in the bugle band in cadets. I marched. It's probably quite funny to look back on it.
Gordon Lightfoot
#60. What's wrong?" asked Seth, seeing my frown.
"That new drummer. Alec. He hit on me earlier, and now he's moving in on Casey. I think he's one of those guys who thinks plying girls with liquor is the only way to get laid."
"Wait. I thought I was the only guy who knew that secret.
Richelle Mead
#61. I did pull out my old Telecaster, and have been thinking I'd like to play that loud with a drummer. But I haven't actually done that yet.
Bill Orcutt
#62. Jon Deitemyer is the drummer everyone wants right now.
Patricia Barber
#63. People project their own dreams, fantasies, and prejudices onto my life. So people are either fans, or jealous, or disagree. Everybody marches to a different drummer.
Hugh Hefner
#64. I'm a drummer. I can count to four and repeat.
Tre Cool
#65. I think you get to a point where you watch something just to enjoy it. I don't think it's really done so that you're supposed to feel, Oh, he's the most wonderful drummer. I think the whole lot is what's more enjoyable.
Charlie Watts
#66. But I think that any young drummer starting out today should get himself a great teacher and learn all there is to know about the instrument that he wants to play.
Buddy Rich
#67. The greatest contribution jazz has made in music has been to replace the role of the conductor with a member of the ensemble who, instead of waving his arms to keep time and convey mood, is an active member of the musical statement. That person is the drummer.
Elvin Jones
#68. I got into figure skating for the art of it, as well as the sport, and how much I love it. And, you know, I do everything that I want. I march to my own drummer. Sometimes people have an issue with that, and I can't control it.
Johnny Weir
#69. When I joined Nirvana, I was the fifth or sixth drummer - I don't know if they'd ever had a drummer they were totally happy with. And they were strangers. There was never much of a deeper connection outside of the music.
Dave Grohl
#70. People like Art Blakey and Buddy Rich, you look at them playing music, and it's just like looking at a heavy metal drummer. I mean, they're playing with the same amount of ferocity. It's not to say all jazz is like that.
Damien Chazelle
#71. But blasting the drummer into the river, though it would have been easy at this range, was not a good way to be inconspicuous.
Neal Stephenson
#72. I was the drummer in a band called Hemsworth for a brief stint, too - it was not very great. I didn't even write the songs, but the band was named after me.
Ryan Hemsworth
#73. You know, I only claim to play three instruments. My dad is a banker, but a drummer at heart; and my mom used to teach piano lessons when she was younger. So I can play some piano, play a little drums, and fake the bass - but banjo, mandolin, and guitar are my thing.
Charlie Worsham
#74. In hindsight, if I could go back in time and relay a message to my younger self, I would tell him to work on his time keeping, and that the job of a drummer is not to be the one that gets noticed the most on stage, or to be the fastest, or the loudest. Above all, it is to be the timekeeper.
Taylor Hawkins
#75. Vivian was an eccentric who not only marched to her own drummer but was usually the drum major of the crazy parade
Jenn McKinlay
#76. Imagine if you were a drummer, and you accidentally picked up two magic wands instead of sticks. There you are, keeping the beat, the next thing you know, your bass player turns into a can of soup.
Mitch Hedberg
#77. I think at one time every drummer wanted to play like Krupa or wanted to win a Gene Krupa drum contest. This is the big inspiration for drummers and naturally it has to be the same way for me.
Buddy Rich
#78. My dream job is to be a rock drummer and the alternate drummer for the Foo Fighters.
Rachael Ray
#79. To me, there was no better drummer than Jeff Porcaro. His musicianship and kindness to me will never be forgotten. Our loss is heaven's gain
Richard Marx
#80. I feel like a drummer with no sticks and somebody keeps farting on my snare drum.
Anthony Langston
#81. I was interested in music and making movies about musicians, but my own experiences, and doing what it felt like for me to be a drummer? Nah, I wasn't interested in that.
Damien Chazelle
#82. As a drummer, you're always fighting for a level that you never quite attain.
Damien Chazelle
#83. If a man does not keep pace with his
companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let
him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or
an oak. Shall he turn his spring into summer?
Henry David Thoreau
#84. Drummer, beat, and piper, blow
Harper, strike, and soldier, go
Free the flame and sear the grasses
Til the dawning Red Star passes
Anne McCaffrey
#85. You know what, the drummer is my manager. He's busy. And I'm busy. I don't need the dough, though. But having said that, there's a limit to how much bad music I wanna play. I did it when I was young, and some of the music was OK, but it wasn't great.
Aimee Mann
#86. Jaz is their drummer. He's pretty damn good too. Hell, he's pretty damn good at everything he's ever tried. Creative little shit.
Lissa Matthews
#87. But figuring out Saddam Hussein was one our greatest mysteries. He marched to his own drummer and frequently as this unfolded he made decisions which were sometimes inexplicable to us and sometimes didn't look very smart.
Brent Scowcroft
#88. When The Murderdolls started it was a really cool thing, especially for me because I had never done anything on that scale before. Even for our drummer and bass player it was their first really big band.
Wednesday 13
#89. Thank God that I had the ability to understand that I had a different beat and that I was a drummer.
James Brown
#90. Writing songs is an essential part of my life: my mother teaches piano, and I have inherited my grandparents' passion for music, especially from my grandfather Tommy, who was a great drummer. It's no coincidence that I play the drums best, but I am also good with the guitar and the piano.
Caleb Landry Jones
#91. I've heard the stories. Like, Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. I never understood that because, when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice.
Neil Peart
#93. I've always been the DJ or the bass player or the drummer, somebody in the background. I don't think anybody who knows me personally would say that I'm particularly shy or introverted, but I'm definitely not like Mr. Attention.
Mayer Hawthorne
#94. But I've always liked to be the kind of drummer and musician who likes to go outside of what's expected of me, and I've always been able to do more than you necessarily hear with every band I've ever played in.
Matt Cameron
#95. Virgil Donati is clearly the best drummer to come along in the music scene in quite some time. He is extremely unique and has embraced an original sound that has given him a signature that is unmistakable and impossible to duplicate.
Tony MacAlpine
#96. If you mess around with jazz, you better have a good drummer and a good bass player.
Gunther Schuller
#97. The drummer; he inspired me to play like no one else I have ever met.
Chet Baker
#98. Once I had defined myself as a compositional drummer, I thought, "Well, I want to be an improvisational drummer."
Neil Peart
#99. My youngest son, who is now the drummer in my band, lives in Brooklyn. My oldest son is about to move out to California, and my daughters are both out of town.
Herbie Mann
#100. At this point, I think I would garner a lot of hate mail if I was now on the cover of Modern Drummer seeing as I'm not a modern drummer anymore.
Jason Schwartzman
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