Tag Archives: best drummers

Recommended Listening

Recommended Listening

It is common for a drum set player to specialize in one style of music – a style they enjoy playing the most. Often, a drummer specializes in a style because they play for a certain band. However, being a diverse drummer is considered desirable and is not difficult to achieve once a drummer has a solid foundation.

While some music styles require specific drum patterns and techniques, others are open to the interpretation of the drummer. Below are good examples of common musical styles with appropriate drum beats. Drummers should eventually be able to play the beats or similar beats in the appropriate setting.

Style Band Song Drummer
Progressive Pop Anika Nilles Queenz Anika Nilles
Progressive Metal Dream Theater Learning to Live Mike Portnoy
Punk Pop Blink 182 What's My Age Again? Travis Barker
Pop R.E.M. Losing My Religion Bill Berry
Country Rock Joe Diffie Third Rock From the Sun Lonnie Wilson
Funk Rock Red Hot Chili Peppers Can't Stop Chad Smith
Contemporary Jazz Chick Corea Electric Band Got A Match? Dave Weckl
Rock AC/DC Back In Black Phil Rudd
Progressive Rock Rush Tom Sawyer Neil Peart
Blues Stevie Ray Vaughan The Sky Is Crying Chris Layton
Funk Tower of Power Give Me Your Love David Garibaldi
Bigband Jazz Lalo Schifrin & BBC Bigband Street Lights Ignacio Berroa
Latin Warner Bros. (DVD) Latin Drumming Horacio Hernandez
Instrumental Progressive Metal Animals as Leaders CAFO Misha Mansoor (programmer)
Drum Solo The Marco Show (DVD) Marco Minnemann
Drum Solo Concert for the Americas Buddy Rich
Drum Solo Montreal Drumfest 2012 Dave Weckl