“I’m not part of the status quo. It’s risky to follow me, because I’ve somehow managed to make a path playing simple. Some people say I’m not great ’cause they think I play the same beat over and over again. I can do the gospel-chops thing. However, I know a million of those gospel drummers who can’t play a straight break to save their life.”
— Ahmir Questlove
“There is no 100%… the better you get the more you see how much you suck… that’s true.”
— George Kollias
“I don’t approach the drums as an instrument per se, more an attitude, viciously attacking something”
— Alex Van Halen
“Practice makes perfect and even if you think you’re perfect your not, keep practicing”
— Eric Moore
“As long as I can hold a pair of sticks, I don’t have to retire. I may end up in a slow blues band, but that’s how it works.”
— Ringo Starr
“Drum machines may be reliable and all that but they can`t drink as much as me”
— Phil Taylor
“Playing fast around the drums is one thing. But to play music, to play with people for others to listen to, th at’s something else. That’s a whole other world.”
— Tony Williams
“Every drummer that had a name, had a name because of his individual playing. He didn’t sound like anybody else, So everybody that I ever listened to, in some form, influenced my taste.”
— Buddy Rich
“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
“Mistreating your drum set is just one step below child abuse”
— John Bonham
Playing a 3 hour Rush concert is like running a marathon while solving equations.
— Neil Peart
“You only get better by playing.”
— Buddy Rich
