best drummer

[AEK]

 ???Who's the best drummer in the world ???

I am confused, i have been told lots of names.

is there a ceremony, a annual event, that determines this...

if u know, can u please tell me about it?

OR BETTER YET

tell who it is?

[Bart Elliott]

Well, for starters ...

There is no such thing as the "best drummer in the world".

The fact that you're confused (and rightly so) and have been given a lot of different names, all claimed to be "the best", should be a sign to you that there is no such thing as "the best drummer in the world".

There are many, many incredible drummers who have lived on our planet ... but there's never been one single individual who is "the best". Why? Because the term "best" is subjective. What is "the best" to one person can be completely different than "the best" to another. This can be true with just about anything under the sun, but especially when we are talking about unique individuals.

Every human being is unique. We all have our own individual, unique fingerprint. Likewise, how we play and express ourselves on the instrument is our own "one of a kind" creative expression. How can we say that my expressions are better than yours? That my fingerprint is the best in the world? We all have value ... and each of our creative expressions/ideas/thoughts has value.

Now ... if you narrow down the scope, in terms of the best, you could probably begin to create a list of drummers whom everyone could agree on. For instance, if you were to say "who is the best jazz drummer" ... I could respond and say that one of "the best" that ever lived would be Buddy Rich. But I would never say that Buddy Rich is the best drummer that ever lived ... despite the marketing slogan that was used while he was still with us. I could also list Art Blakey as one of "the best" jazz drummers that ever lived ... and he plays NOTHING like Buddy Rich. But even with this narrowed list of jazz drummers, you'll never get everyone to agree that one was "the best".

If you take a criteria and apply it to a drummer, then you might be able to pull out a name and attach the term "best" to it. Example being "the fastest drummer in the world". We could measure the speed of someone playing Single strokes in a 60 second time frame, and then ________ would be the fastest drummer in the world. But keep in mind that that label wouldn't be very accurate unless EVERY drummer in the world was measured, and even then it would only be "the fastest Single strokes in the world of those individuals measured".

So how do you apply the term "best" to a musician? Is it their technique? Their musicianship? Their speed? Their style? Their overall abilities? You see, there are just too many factors involved, and it's too subjective. There's no way to measure all of these areas that make up the art of drumming. Why? Because it's art!

So when someone says _________ is the best drummer, it's just their opinion ... and their opinion isn't based on much factual evidence ... it's just what they like the best. What's the best flavor of ice cream in the world? Try as you may, you'll never get a consensus because it's all about each individual's taste(s).

So who's the best drummer in the world? No one. That individual does not exist and never will exist ... but there are many great drummers who are some of the best in the world!