When it comes to playing an instrument, whether that be the drums, guitar, bass, or piano, it’s totally natural to want to be at the top of your game. As such, wondering what distinguishes a good drummer from a bad drummer is a normal question.
Drumming in particular is one of those instruments where speed is super impressive. If someone can drum quickly, that is a sign that they are highly skilled.
However, this does not necessarily indicate that they are the best at what they do.
In fact, I actually think that speed is just a small factor when compared to some of the other components.
Of course, this is actually pretty subjective, at least to some extent, and may even depend on your personal preferences.
In this article, I’m gonna be taking you through some of the components that I think distinguish a good drummer from a bad drummer based on my own experience and knowledge of drumming.
Serve the music, not yourself
The most important factor that helps you tell a good drummer from a bad drummer is if they serve the music or serve themselves.
What this means is that there should be a noticeable difference between a drummer who is drumming along to the beat of the music, fitting in well with the genre, when compared to a drummer who just wants to show off and flex their skills.
Being a skilled drummer is awesome, and, understandably, an experienced drummer wants to show off their years of practice. However, there is no place for this in a song if you are playing in a band or drumming along to a beat.
You need to make sure that your drumming is in line with the other performers and the genre itself. If you are playing for a metal song, use your metal chops. If you are drumming on a country song, use country chops.
As tempting as it is to add pizzazz, don’t. Do not make it all about you. Sure, it might be a good way of showing off, but at the end of the day, it’s not all about you, and any good drummer will be aware of this.
Being aware of the music you are playing and the genre itself can help you get to grips with this, and may even help you with volume control...
...especially since some genres prefer louder drums, and others like drums to be quieter.
Of course, it is still important to keep your personality. Whilst you need to serve the music first and foremost, you may be able to fit in some opportunity to show off what you can do such as a drum solo.
Speed isn’t everything
A good drummer who has had years of practice will likely be able to drum quickly. The speeds some drummers can reach are nothing less than mind-blowing and can be a pleasure to listen to. That being said, speed certainly isn’t everything.
Learning when to slow your drumming down is a skill in itself. You need to make sure that your drumming style matches the genre or song you're playing (this relates to the previous point on serving the music rather than yourself).
If you’re still super keen to show off how fast you can play (which is fine, since getting to that point is a sign of years of experience) you can ask the band to play a song that enables you to drum quickly.
You could even find the room for a drum solo somewhere in your set.
Any good drummer will totally understand that the music needs to come first, and if your fast drumming doesn’t fit with the music, then you should save it for another time.
Practice makes perfect
A good drummer is someone always willing to practice and learn.
Even a drummer who has been drumming for 20 years and has found success in bands and played many gigs should be down to learning more about their craft.
No matter how much experience you have, there is always something new to learn.
For example, you may come across a relatively new drummer who has some cool techniques you’ve never seen before. This may encourage you to ask this drummer to teach you their ways.
A bad drummer may think that they don’t need to improve anymore, and stop practicing. As a result, they're going get rusty.
Bad drummers may also be unwilling to learn about new drumming trends and outright refuse to practice (and even refuse to share knowledge with younger or less experienced drummers).
Take note: you are never above practicing. I don’t care how much experience you have. Even the likes of Dave Grohl practice regularly!
Takes criticism
Following on from the section on practicing, I think it's also important to make the point that a good drummer will be more receptive to constructive criticism.
What I mean by this is that no matter how experienced a drummer is, they should always be willing to at least listen to the feedback of others. That is what helps us grow as performers and expand our craft even further.
To illustrate this point, I actually have a personal anecdote to share.
One time, early into my gigging experience, I was playing at a community college gig, and after my set, a member of the audience came up to me and gave me some very valid feedback.
I’d been playing with a double pedal and my right foot was a little sloppy in comparison. I took that on board, and whilst it stung a little at first, it helped develop me further.
At that point, I was already pretty experienced, having been playing for many years already, but I figured you could never be too experienced to receive feedback.
Of course, there’s a difference between constructive and destructive criticism. If someone is just being an outright d*ck to you, you don’t need to listen to that! But any good drummer will be more than willing to take on board helpful feedback!