By Peter Leonardo

So, what is with drummers having so many toms, cymbals and bass drums if they rarely use all of them? I want to talk about Joey Jordison the former drummer for Slipknot, a heavy metal band. Why does he use so many toms and cymbals- he never uses any of them! All he uses is his 2 bass drums, his hi hats, snare and a couple of toms! Sometimes, I believe he doesn’t even touch some of his drums.

Honestly, I think it’s just for show for some drummers, but Neil Peart, drummer for the rock band Rush, knows what he’s doing.  As said on Peart’s Wikipedia article, he “has received numerous awards for his musical performances, and is known for his technical proficiency and stamina”.

I like Neil Peart more than Joey Jordison, because when he plays beats, he stays in the pocket.  That means he plays the drum beat precisely and when he does his fills, he doesn’t  use a double foot pedal for every single fill. On the other hand, Joey Jordison uses uses it constantly and that’s just unprofessional.

One of the drummers that I look up to is Quest Love from, The Roots.  He currently plays with The Roots on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon . The band is great and fits perfectly with the show. One of the reasons I look up to Quest Love is because he plays so flawlessly.  It’s like he’s  floating on a cloud when he plays and fills go perfectly every time.  And, Quest Love only uses a 4 piece Ludwig set and he uses Ziljian cymbals.

These days, I feel like drummers should not always assume that if a drummer has millions of toms and cymbals that they are then amazing drummers.  They have to listen to what and how the drummer plays and listen to the drummer closely to see if he’s doing the same or unnecessary fills. In my opinion, a good drummer is somebody that keeps the beat in the pocket, plays at a necessary volume, does not do too many fills, or unnecessary  fills. For example, if he’s playing jazz, don’t burst out playing a metal fill!  That’s just unprofessional and disrespectful to the audience.