Great drummers

[DeathMetalDrummer]

what are your top 4 favorite drummers? mine are Derek Roddy of hate eternal, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, George Kollias of nile, and Pete sandoval of morbid angel

[pastor_bob]

DMD, welcome to Drum Chat!

My top 4 (in no particular order):
Phil Collins
Steve Gadd
John Bonham
Neil Peart

[ThePloughman]

Bonham
Rich
Castronovo
Barrett Deems

[funkymcstain]

i can never pick favs. favs from diferent genres, but never all around favorite drummers. the guys you menitoned are quallity death metal guys for sure. kinda hard to put band names next to any of em tho, each have been in several bands, and even some of the same bands. my fav death metal drummer is john longstreth of origin/dim mak/dying fetis. flo mornier is a bad mofo too.

[pditty]

Buddy Rich
Neil Peart
Steve Smith
Steve Gadd

*Deen Castronovo also a great mention. Saw him live with Bad English in the 80's awesome. Gread work with "Hardline"

[Andreeew]

Keitjil Harldstad(Satyricon)
Jukka Nevalainen(Nightwish)
Mike Gaspar(Moonspell)
Flo Mounier(Cryptopsy)

[Shazane]

George Kollias (Nile)
Inferno (Behemoth)
Marco Pitruzzella (Brain Drill)
Buddy Rich (just amazing in all measurable ways)

[stereodave70]

Neil Peart for sure on top...Nick Menza from Megadeth....Lars from Metalica, but only because of "Justice For All"...after that he got lazy...yeah, I said that out loud!!...after that,...there are a lot that I like...Joey Jordison of Slipknot is simply amazing!!!

[signia fan]

1. Vinnie Colauita (especially Gino Vanelli's Nightwalker album)
2. Terry Bozzio (Bozzio, Levin, and Stevens my fav.)
3. Chester Thompson ( for seconds out Genesis live and the great drum sound)
4. Alan Holdsworth and all other great guitar players, who often influence me more than the drummers themselves.

[drummerdavie]

louie belson
joe morello
max roach
elvin jones

[totti]

Travis Barker
Steve Gadd
Dave Grohl
Taylor Hawkins

[Mysterious Stan]

My favorite drummers are probably Igor Cavelera (sepultura), Dave Mclain (machine head) Raymond Herrera (fear factory) and probably Charlie Benante (anthrax). gene Hoglan is amazing as well and i like Dave lombardo but i think slayer can be a bit too repetitive.

[Stevo42w]

Buddy rich
Neal pert
Thomas lang
johnny rabb

Yall need to get off the metal and look into some more solo acts.... you may figure something to throw into your show that could be original to the genre looking at the jazz solos some of these guys do.

[peach_tx]

All time faves:
Neil Peart
John Bonham
Stewart Copeland
Dave Weckl
Lenny White
Dave Lombardo
Dennis Chambers
Danny Carey

Current faves:
John Merryman - Cephalic Carnage (very, very creative for a grind/death metal type player)
Gil Sharone - Dillinger Escape Plan
Morgan Rose - Sevendust
Brain - Buckethead, Praxis, etc.
Thomas Pridgen - The Mars Volta (this guy was endorsed by Zildjian at age 10!)
Thomas Haake - Meshuggah (unbelievable polyrhythms & polymeters)
Martin Axenrot - Opeth

edit:OOOPS I just realized you had just asked for the top four, oh well....
Top 4 I guess would be Bonham, Copeland, Peart, Carey

[Grissom]

Here's my eclectic mix of inspiration:

Neil Peart - One of the first guys I really watched - for obvious reasons 8-)
Art Blakey - great jazz feel
Terry Bozzio - technical mastery and amazing approach to drums as 'symphony' instruments
Dave Weckl - innovative use of acoustic and electric instruments

[backtodrum]

Steve Gadd
Steve Smith
Vinny Colaiuta
Dave Weckl

In that order. There are many more I really like but for sure drumming those listed are my favs.

[kona]

Like everyone else here - It's hard to narrow it down to 4
But - here goes.

Buddy Rich
Louis Bellson
Billy Cobham
and last here but not least by a long shot IMO
Carl Palmer

[george007]

SOME of my favourites are:
Steve Gadd
Steve Smith
Vinny Colaiuta
Buddy Rich
Neil Peart
Thomas Lang
...............etc

[The Dant]

Ok, here's my list as I'm new(ish) here...

First influences?

Animal - The Muppets (obviously!)

Brian Downey - Thin Lizzy (had a fantastic way of playing rock with a bit of 'swing' - his solo on 'Sha Na Na' off Live and Dangerous was fantastic yet seemed effortless)

Ian Paice - Deep Purple (few rock drummers have been as good as Ian with rudiments - you only have to hear 'Burn' either live or in the studio to hear how controlled his single stroke rolls sound - fantastic)

Phil Collins - Genesis (possibly the first drummer who had a 'sound' I could recognise instantly - the gated concert toms, the rattly snare - and he was extremely inventive too)

Roger Taylor - Queen (show me another drummer who's played as many different styles of drumming in one band - metal, pop, even charleston!! Severely underrated in my opinion)

Eric Carr - KISS (ok, so this is obvious as I'm a KISS fan and KISS tribute band drummer - not technically as gifted as the others I mentioned, but he was so powerful - plus he was the first drummer I ever saw live, so I'm a bit biased!)

Cozy Powell - Rainbow (similarly powerful - the most powerful player I've ever heard that used traditional grip. Great double bass player)

Nowadays?

Neil Peart - Rush (an extraordinary talent - he made me want to construct drum parts from verse to verse like he's done...and seemingly playing better than ever)

Deen Castronovo/Steve Smith - Journey (isn't Schon a lucky git? he's had two fantastic drummers down the years and I'm ashamed of myself that I discovered them so late after I started to play)

John Bonham - Zep (another one who I'm ashamed to say passed me by when I was a kid - probably because my older brother didn't have any Zep albums but what a right foot that man had...not to mention his left foot and his hands!!)

Vinnie Coliuta - (just because he floors me)

And there's others like Omar Hakim, Greg Bissonnette, Terry Bozzio, Benny Greb, Buddy Rich, Vinnie Paul, Eric Singer, Mickey Curry...and here's one who slipped through the net...Mick Tucker from The Sweet - great Glam Rock drummer that never seemed to get any credit!!

I'll probably think of 10 more that mean a lot to me once I've posted this...but at least I remembered to mention Animal from the Muppets!!

***EDIT - OOPS! YOU WANTED TOP 4 DIDN'T YOU? OH WELL, IN THAT CASE...PEART, PAICE, COLIUTA, DOWNEY :O))

Ian ('Peter' in DTK)

[drummerbox55]

joey kramer
neil peart

[jd09]

Hmm...

Neil Peart
Chris Pennie
John Bonham
Louie Bellson

[Yom]

Danny Carey
John Bonham
Steve Gadd
Bernard Purdie

Yes, the solos of Buddy Rich have made my jaw drop more than these four guys however my main criteria is being able to mesh well with the musicians you're playing for, as well as being able to groove and those 4 have it in spades.

[Zetsumei]

Mine are:
Justin Fisher(My drum teacher lol...)
Steve Gadd
Neil Pert
Jeff Queen (I think that's what his name was heh)

[Little Roober]

John Bonham
Neil Peart
Keith Moon (I can't believe no one mentioned him yet...)
annnd anyone but travis barker.

[peachyplace]

John Bonham (Led Zepplin)
Keith Moon (The Who)
The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold) I'm not a huge fan of them... but he is nuts on the drums
Buddy Rich