These days everything happens online. This is true especially for music. The music industry is evolving and more and more musicians are also becoming businessmen and producers. Musicians also are becoming more technically skilled and are remixing and publishing their own music. More and more drummers are recording their drumming sessions and putting them online for the whole world to hear. It becomes even easier when you see sources such as these free hip hop drum samples.
This article is a list of some of the best drumming and drumsamples I have heard in a while.
1. When drumming it is important to have good technique but all the good drummers have amazing technique. So it’s not the skill level but the personal style and ideas of a drummer separate the good from the great. Great drummers that are also great drum samplers can use the best of both world to create something amazing. That is exactly what Aphex Twin from Syro did. He can both drum and sample and in that way he makes amazing records.
2. Taylor Goldsmith is a former bandmate of Blake Mills. His brother can both play the drums amazingly and also sing. This is of course something one doesn’t see very often and his track Break Mirrors is amazing.
3. With the recent movie whiplash some of the most amazing drumming can still be found in jazz music in my opinion. Christina Courtin’s new album is absolutely amazing. And Jim Keltner is the one that plays the drums on her record.
4. The new album Songs of Innocence from U2 got a lot of backlash because of the fact they put gave away their album to everyone that had itunes. People weren’t amused by getting free music and were angry because of it. To me it is very weird to be angry for getting something for free. Especially if it is the new album of once of the greatest rockbands of all time, possibly the greatest. I personally loved Songs of Innocence. The singing of Bono is great and although the Edge might not be the greatest guitar player when it comes to technique, he does have a neck for working with sound effects and drum samples . As a solo drummer Larry Mullen isn’t the greatest but on this album in particular he works very well together and is finding a good balance with te rest of the band. These days the drums are often out of proportion to the rest of the instruments. U2 does this better, especially in this album.
5. A fantastic trio album from Bill Frisell, Paul Motian and Ron Carter. They are some of my favorite musicians. They are always innovating and I feel like i’m listening to something completely new with every album they bring out.
6. There is just one guy on the drums that is absolutely amazing on the drums in literally anything I hear. That man is Paul Mabury who plays for Dave Barnes. In the new album Golden Days. Also Jay Fisher is highly recommended on the drums be sure to check out his article series on how to make beats.
7. I want you all to check out the new album Black Messiah from D’Angelo. As a whole it was one of the best things I have heard in a long time.
Most of these drummers are covered by excellent drummers who record their tracks and put them online as drum samples. Sometimes these drum samples are free, other times you have to pay for them. For any drummer it is amazing to be able to listen to these drums without the other music to quickly learn from it. This way you can practice. But they can also serve as backing tracks for guitar or piano players. So check it out.