Re: Who's the fastest drummer on Drummerworld?
As someone who had the need for speed at one time and now doesn't, I can see both sides of this equation. I played in a death metal band from 1994 to 2002. Speed was important. Endurance was even more important. As endurance increased, speed would follow. Back then, double strokes with the feet were unheard of, so we were all doing singles. Because of this need for speed in the metal community, a whole new set of ideas came to fruition. We now have slide, swivel, heel toe (I will be learning these), and I am sure some kid somewhere is working on a technique that will push the limits even farther. I was using swivel before I even knew what it was. I felt it was odd that my feet would rotate from side to side, but it worked so I did it. This was/is all in the name of music, not just the need to go fast. After all, if I didn't maintain the ability to play fast for long periods I would have lost my job.
Today I don't care about how fast I can go, it isn't a goal or priority, but I still use it everyday I play. Can I still do 200bpm singles with my feet? Sure, but not for extended periods of time because I don't need or want to. But there is always room for expression through speed. It has its uses and it has its places, and it is never going to go away. People are always pushing the limits in whatever we do. We have cars that will do a 1/4 mile in 4 seconds at 300mph, people who can run a 4 minute mile, golfers that can hit a ball over 300 yards, shooters who can hit a target at over a mile, even a guy who fell from 24 miles above the surface and went 843mph and broke the speed of sound. It is human nature to want to go faster, be better than the next guy. We call this advancement, improvement on what we can do. So why in the drumming world is speed taboo?
Please folks, keep striving to go faster, and for new ways to do it better and longer. It hurts nothing, and only makes us better as drummers.