Top 463 Drummer Quotes & Sayings

I can play a bunch of instruments but drums? My brothers a drummer and Ive always been jealous that hes such a good drummer. I always try to play but its always kinda just bashing. I can keep time but no one really wants to hear me play drums.

To me, a great drummer isn't always about somebody with chops who can shred. A great drummer is someone who is part of a great band.

Phil is a real drummer's drummer.

When I first set up my big band, I only had Gilson Lavis, the drummer from Squeeze, with me. He was the core element. Whenever a group hits the big time, they always get a new drummer because they really need that. You can make do with rubbish elsewhere.

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?

My dream job is to be a rock drummer and the alternate drummer for the Foo Fighters.

I used to go and do some sitting in with Robert Nighthawk when he were playing at the 708 Club in Chicago. He was a tremendous slideman. I never saw him do anything other than play the slide. I never just saw him just use his hand. He always used a slide. He had a little-bitty drummer we called "Shorty". He was about that high [hand gesture]. And he was his drummer. That's all he had was a slide guitar and a drummer.

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.

I was a drummer and I played the guitar.

A band is as solid as its drummer is.

You'd probably never recognize the drummer from your favorite band ever, if they walked past you on the street. I didn't even recognize the drummer from Pink Floyd the other day, and they're one of the biggest bands in the world ever. That's their choice, they're not the front man, they don't want to be, they want to be behind their drum kit. They're always the ones in the photo shoots that look slightly uncomfortable when they're forced to wear a leather jacket.

LCD Soundsystem - they put the drummer in front. I always thought that was cool. Because the drummer is usually the guy in the back.

I think we're all actors. There's this friend of mine who's a great drummer, and he said, "I never thought I'd be a drummer, but I got really good at it. I always feel like I'm an actor playing the drums." His real calling was that he was going to be a magician. That's what he felt like he wanted to do. If you decide to act like a journalist, you'll probably be a better journalist than just being a journalist. What you're doing is, you're taking the executive role and stepping outside yourself so that you're able to make more objective decisions.

I don't want no drummer. I set the tempo.

I wanted to be a professional drummer.

I had a band when I was in middle school, but I was the drummer. I kind of thought if I was going to be in a band, I'd be the drummer. I'm innately drawn to rhythm. But we didn't have any shows. We just jammed in our parents' basement.

I don't take myself that seriously when it comes down to that stuff. My drummer is my favorite drummer in the world, and he also happens to be the funniest person you'll meet. He's a constant reminder every time stuff gets a little too heavy, maybe I have a bad show or I'll hit a horrible note on some recorded TV thing or something, and he's like, "Man don't take yourself so seriously - this is a joke, we're playing music." And that's a great thing to keep me grounded at all times. We're not saving lives, but the power does help us.

I went to L.A. to be a drummer in a band.

I'm a drummer. I can count to four and repeat.

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.

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.

A tap dancer is really a frustrated drummer.

It takes a pretty good drummer to be better than no drummer at all.

I never professed to be a great drummer but I was a very heavy drummer.

I'm a rock drummer. I couldn't sit down and pretend to be a jazz drummer.

My drummer is my favorite drummer in the world, and he also happens to be the funniest person you'll meet.

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.

Yes, I always say that we're a National League band. What I mean is, if you play an instrument, you have to sing. So I always call our drummer up. Even the drummer has to take a turn on the microphone.

I don't play beats. I hate playing beats. I'm an orchestration drummer. I'm a musical drummer.

As a drummer, I'm rhythmically so disabled that it's hilarious.

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.

Ringo isn't the best drummer in the world. He isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles

My son is my drummer.

F irst and foremost I am a drummer. After that, I'm other things... But I didn't play drums to make money. I played drums because I loved them... My soul is that of a drummer... It came to where I had to make a decision - I was going to be a drummer. Everything else goes now. I play drums. It was a conscious moment in my life when I said the rest of things were getting in the way. I didn't do it to be come rich and famous, I did it because it was the love of my life.

Ringo isn't the best drummer in the world. He isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles.

I started as a drummer. The feet are an extension of that.

When I say I had a cosmic confidence that we were capable of writing good music, I'm speaking about that time when we met Sam [Fogarino]. Greg [ex-drummer] is actually a really great drummer and a great guy. I never want to sound like I am belittling his contributions in the early days, but when Sam joined, there was an immediacy of, like, "Here we go."

I was very impressed with Hanson's performance. I thought that little drummer was a kick-ass drummer, and uh, that they sang great, I mean I didn't know either, y'know, that these little boys, y'know, I was very impressed. I think they'll probably be around in 20 years writing good songs, and being a great band.

A drummer is usually like the backbone.

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.

When I was thirteen I only wanted to be a drummer.

I dance to the beat of a different drummer.

There is no music unless the drum and the drummer are one.

My drummer right now, who was also the first drummer in Weeping Tile, Jon McCann, told me that [Hip drummer] Johnny Fay took drum lessons from [McCann's] dad, who taught a lot of the drummers in Kingston. He said that when he was in Grade 9, the Hip were the model; the goal was to get an agent and gig as much as possible.

Once I had defined myself as a compositional drummer, I thought, "Well, I want to be an improvisational drummer."

Before you can follow your own drummer, you have to hear the drummer.

The Little Drummer Boy was playing in the background for what seemed like the third time in a row. I fought off an urge to beat that Little Drummer Boy senseless with his own drumsticks.

Anybody can be a drummer.

To be a drummer you also have to be a musician.

I'm a terrible drummer. I can tune 'em pretty good, but I'm a pretty bad drummer.

Make the drummer sound good.

My dad still hasn't heard 'I Love My Dad,' and I'm sure he'll say something like, 'It's good, but I love your version of 'Little Drummer Boy'!' My dad loves my live albums - he's obsessed with the live version of 'Little Drummer Boy' for some reason.

It's much easier to have a diversified career as an electronic musician than it is as a drummer. Nothing against drummers. If you're a drummer, you just wait around for people to ask you to play drums. But if you have your own studio and can make music, you have the ability to approach music a lot differently.

I had this fantasy. I would be at the Paramount Theater in New York and Louis Prima's drummer falls sick. The theater manager asks, 'Is there a drummer in the house?' I run up on stage and bang instant fame!

I don't think there's such a thing as a 'best' drummer.

I told people I was a drummer before I even had a set, I was a mental drummer.

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.

Everybody marches to a different drummer.

Yes, I always say that were a National League band. What I mean is, if you play an instrument, you have to sing. So I always call our drummer up. Even the drummer has to take a turn on the microphone.

I think I was the best drummer!