Drummer Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old drummer quotes, drummer sayings, and drummer proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

But primarily, the drummer's supposed to sit back there and swing the band. Buddy Rich
That's what the drummer is supposed to do. Keep the time. If you can do something else besides that, fine. But the time is essential and non-negotiable. Elvin Jones
Average band with a great drummer sounds great, great band with an average. Buddy Rich
To be a drummer you also have to be a musician. Ian Paice
Drummers shouldn't just think of themselves as drummers. If you're going to be a musician, you should expand your horizons, compose things, and work with other instruments. Stewart Copeland
Do you know why they call a drummer's seat a throne? Because drummers are kings and queens. Ed Thigpen
There is no roles. No one is keeping any roles. The drummer is also answering everybody and everything. So it is a constant conversation and communication between musicians on an extremely high level with extremely valuable material, motifs, and melodies. Miroslav Vitous
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, owever measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau
Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers. Billy Joel
Drummers haven't managed to develop their individuality quite as well as guitarists have. We can be so focused on the nuts and bolts that we overlook the importance of individuality - the broader picture, if you will. Bill Bruford
If you drum open handed, you automatically look like a better/cooler drummer than every other drummer. Christopher Mintz
March to the beat of your own drummer. Henry David Thoreau
Before you can follow your own drummer, you have to hear the drummer. Srikumar Rao
It takes a pretty good drummer to be better than no drummer at all. Chet Baker
Drummers are conductors, we set the pace for the music so if you're not relaxed and feeling right, the whole thing goes out the window. Steven Adler
A drummer is usually like the backbone. Brody Dalle
Average band with a great drummer sounds great, great band with an average drummer sounds average. Buddy Rich
Every man must walk to the beat of his own drummer. Henry David Thoreau
Music is the beat of a drum that keeps time with our emotions. Shannon L. Alder
The drum is the heart of music. The saxophone can play and then rest, as can all of them except the drums; the drummer keeps going - he can't afford to stop. Jo Jones
Drummers - sometimes they play and they listen. And that little listen takes a speck away from the right tempo. Miles Davis
There is no music unless the drum and the drummer are one. E. E. Cummings
Music shouldn't be just a tune, it should be a touch. Amit Kalantri
As a drummer, you're always fighting for a level that you never quite attain. Damien Chazelle
The drummer's always going to be there. They're the floor of the whole deal and everyone can stand up on you. Ringo Starr
Maybe Ringo Starr wasn't the best drummer in the world. All right, maybe he wasn't the best drummer in the Beatles. Geoffrey Perkins
I'm a drummer who likes to sing...In fact, what I like to do the most is to sing and to play drums at the same time. T.S. Monk
He doesn't have to march to the same drummer as long as he's in the same band. Dusty Baker
The best drummers are the ones who imprint the music with their own personal mark while still supplying the vital elements of time, feel, and emotion. Chad Smith
Let me paraphrase Lenny bruce: If the drums are swingin', the band's swingin' —even if it's not. If the drums ain't swingin', the band ain't swingin'—even if it is. Paul Shaffer
The drummer is the center of gravity for any group, no matter what kind of music they play. In the studio or on stage, the drums are the first instrument the engineer focuses on because everything else is built around them. Tommy James
The drummer is the most important musician in any band. He makes it happen by the feel he brings to the ensemble. A great drummer drives the bus, makes the stops, picks up the solos, and orchestrates the vocals. He or she can make or break a great band. Peter Frampton
We're all drummers. When I'm working the strings with my right hand, I'm playing a drum part. Rhythm is involved with everything. It's just different perspectives on the same thing. We're trying to make these machines laugh and cry. Mike Watt
A drummer certainly needs to be something of a shaman. he also needs the power of a ringmaster, as well as total self-confidence unspoiled by something like reading books. Only exceptional master drummers like Jaki Liebezeit can afford such an exquisite occupation as studying Sanskrit without getting confused. Irmin Schmidt
The drums are the heart, guts and soul, the driving force behind the music. Billy Idol
It's tough being 'the drummer'. It's up to you to lay down the groove, then hold everybody else together. And as if that's not enough, all the other guys in the band think you're difficult or crazy. And then they start with the jokes:'What has three legs and a prick? A drum stool'. It ain't easy being the drummer. Mark Hudson
Real drums played by real drummers; an art of sound that I've been attempting to capture for thirty-five years. Even getting close to the reality and humanity is beyond measure. Jack Douglas
A band without a drummer is like a rocking chair that somebody has cruelly bolted to the floor: while it may appear to rock, it actually doesn't. Tony Barrell
Drummers play the most wonderful, exciting, and complex rhythms. Tony Barrell
I think drummers have an unfair reputation because, let's face it, first of all, you have to be MAD to play the drums! I mean nobody sane is going to spend their life hitting various objects with two pieces of wood. Cozy Powell
Drummers have so much to think about that they unconsciously make a variety of ridiculous facial expressions as they play. Richard Jupp
To be a drummer is to be misunderstood. That old joke about a band consisting of three musicians and a drummer reflects the uninformed view of many people who still see the drummer as a barbarian with a haircut, making indiscriminate noise. Jon Cohan
I think every band is a little cautious when the drummer starts to write tunes. Matt Cameron
The drummer is the backbone of the band and is the real underrated one. Bernard Sumner
I definitely move to the beat of my own drummer and man, he's not playing something anyone has heard before. It's pretty cool, though. Pretty cool. Q. Tip
My soul is that of a drummer... I didn't do it to become rich and famous. I did it because it was the love of my life. Ringo Starr
The drummer is stereotypically the dumb guy. Maybe that's why I always respect drummers who do more than the drum. Taylor Hawkins
I would like to think that the singer is the butterfly, and the drummer was just the little grub in the ground, working to become a caterpillar Robert Wyatt
When I speak of natural drummers I'm talking about guys that are playing with the talent God gave 'em. Gene Krupa
I play weird. I'm always just behind. We drummers only have so much room. We're not guitarists. Ringo Starr
Before you can follow your own drummer, you have to hear the drummer. Srikumar Rao
I'm a drummer. I can count to four and repeat. Tre Cool
I realized that you can achieve so much at the front of a stage, releasing the music yourself and being something more selfish than just the drummer. Rex Orange County
I think the drummer should sit back there and play some drums, and never mind about the tunes. Just get up there and wail behind whoever is sitting up there playing the solo. And this is what is lacking, definitely lacking in music today. Buddy Rich
Do you know why they call a drummer's seat a throne? Because drummers are kings and queens. Ed Thigpen