Lars Ulrich

Whatever with the whole ride thing. If he uses the ride on those songs, ok, but he uses it too sparingly, and most of his drumming is crash and hihats. I think Lars' drumming has gone downhill since ...And Justice for All, which is where I stopped listening to Metallica.

- Marc
 
syaoran05 said:
yeah, but see, you need to look at it from the view of a person that wants his band to be famous. at the start what matters most is that the name Metallica would be popular, so people would watch them, hear them and buy them; so they'd allow the tape swapping because its what will spread the word about Metallica -awhat will make them popular.

then of course you want to earn money, not lose it.. while theyre not gigging and promoting their songs, they sit down and compose songs; or when they just want to relax - it will take time offstage hence they wont be paid any money except those that come from royalty. and that royalty comes from tapes and CD's being sold. now, if everything was napstered no one would buy their CD's and they wont get any money at all.

personally i'd do exactly the same.. i'd release an EP then tell anyone they could spread it in any way so that my band's name will become popular. then when we get signed we'll tell everyone not to download our songs illegally or get pirated copies coz i know that the money we earn from the records we release will go to waste if everybody just got pirated coipes and downloads.




who said double bass made Lars good? the thing is that people percieve Lars' double bassing intense, not that his playing double bass makes him good.


If you read my post fully you would see I was quoting someone that said he didnt like Lars due to his objection of Napster. I actually believe Lars did the right thing sueing Napster. Also if you go back to some of the posts before me alot of them talk about his double bass. I love double bass, but that doesnt make someone a good drummer.
 
ZDdrums said:
Lars was one of my original drumming inspirations, but that was waaaayyy before the St. Anger album. Once that CD came out, I just never looked at him the way I used to.

Same here! He was the ONLY reason I started playing. When I first heard AJ4A I said:
"I HAVE to try that!" ...So I did. I still think he is a great drummer though, just not as great as he used to be. Or as great as alot of other current drummers.
 
I like Lars. He's a pretty solid drummer and fit Metallica perfectly. He had a little unique style going for him in the 80's. I mean I would try to learn a song and be like "that's pretty cool. If I was writing that I probably wouldn't of added that type of fill." I mean he never did anything extremely hard or anything I couldn't do, but he was always a solid drummer. I checked out one of his solos on youtube and it wasn't all that great. I do think he is a little overrated. I always hear people saying he's really awesome, but he always struck me as an average metal drummer.
 
I'm not a big fan of Lars's playing--too much open hi hat and weird tom stuff for my taste--but I think he's best when he plays simply for the song--"Enter Sandman" is one example. Regarding his use of Gretsch drums, he admitted to as much in a Modern Drummer interview a while back. He said something like he loves Tama drums and has a great relationship with Tama, but prefers to record with a Gretsch kick drum now and then. In fact, there are a lot of drummers who don't record with the drums they endorse and play live. I suspect it has something to do with pressure from producers and engineers who can get the sounds they want from certain drum brands, Gretsch in particular. Let's face it, you can't see a bass drum logo on a record.

Oh, I also despise the snare sound on "St. Anger"--truly awful!
 
Ulrich87 said:
But you have to agree that you were pwned
:p

Uh....no. You have an odd obsession with "pwning"........

Anyway.....Let's talk about his drummin ing the "golden years". I really thought Lars' drumming on Kill 'Em All was not too bad, considering that he really hadn't been drumming too long. However, I noticed several times on the album that he both rushed and lagged on certain cymbal crashes that were meant to match the bass guitar("Whiplash"), and I wasn't too keen on his grooves.

Ride the Lightning saw a jump not only in Metallica's song structure and style, but aleap in Lars' drumming capabilities. His double bassing got faster and he became a better time keeper. My only complaint is the fills, which were not at the same level as the rest of Lars' drumming.

Master of Puppets revealed that Lars' drumming could match the aggressive style of the rest of the band. The drum fills were not bad, but didn't improve much from those he used on Ride the Lightning.

...And Justice for All, which marked then end of Metallica's years as a Thrash and Speed Metal group, had good, complex grooves, and grinding rhythm, but again the fills were sub-par. However, the opening groove for "Harvester of Sorrow" had a very interesting polyrhythm (yes, Lars' used a polyrhythm. He is playing 8th notes with his right hand and quarter notes with his left, while his feet play 16th notes in differentiating patterns).

- Marc
 
tambian89 said:
Uh....no. You have an odd obsession with "pwning"........

Anyway.....Let's talk about his drummin ing the "golden years". I really thought Lars' drumming on Kill 'Em All was not too bad, considering that he really hadn't been drumming too long. However, I noticed several times on the album that he both rushed and lagged on certain cymbal crashes that were meant to match the bass guitar("Whiplash"), and I wasn't too keen on his grooves.

Ride the Lightning saw a jump not only in Metallica's song structure and style, but a leap in Lars' drumming capabilities. His double bassing got faster and he became a better time keeper. My only complaint is the fills, which were not at the same level as the rest of Lars' drumming.

Master of Puppets revealed that Lars' drumming could match the aggressive style of the rest of the band. The drum fills were not bad, but didn't improve much from those he used on Ride the Lightning.

...And Justice for All, which marked then end of Metallica's years as a Thrash and Speed Metal group, had good, complex grooves, and grinding rhythm, but again the fills were sub-par. However, the opening groove for "Harvester of Sorrow" had a very interesting polyrhythm (yes, Lars' used a polyrhythm. He is playing 8th notes with his right hand and quarter notes with his left, while his feet play 16th notes in differentiating patterns).

- Marc

If there were a reputation system on this forum I would give you a massive boost right now!
I totally agree with you. Exept on Ride the lightning: 'fight fire with fire' has some great fills!
But you really should see past Metallica and just listen to the music they made after the Black album.. Just listen to the music and don't care about it beeing Metallica. He actually has some good "moves" (brakes\fills) on Load aswell:)
 
ive only just joined the forum and i have to say that i think lars is a monster. i recently saw him at the download festival at donington park and i was blown away by how good he still is. i really did think he had lost his abilities as a drummer when i listened to st anger and s&m, but his performance convinced me otherwise. metallica played every song off master of puppets, and lars was spot on for every song. i particularly enjoyed his drumming on songs like disposable heroes and battery, songs that when played live show he can still play well. the machine gun double bass section in one is still one of my favourite dum moments on any record ever, and lars will always be recognised as a fantastic drummer. thats all i really wanted to say about him
:)
 
i think the ride issue has stopped now?

i think no one should criticize lars for rarely playing the ride. its not his fault he doesnt. metallica music does not require much riding anyway. just like franz ferdinand doesnt need a ride.

and i think what's good about lars [and perhaps the only good thing] is that he plays what is needed, and does not play what is not needed. hence if ride no need then no ride it is. and i think that's one of the better lessons in music. dont overplay.
 
Lars is a good rock drummer. I think the double bass speed may have decreased but nothing wrong with that. He was a great influence on me in the day, but i can honestly say listening to his playing in some of the Metallica songs, he does fills in the weirds spots on the song, but thats what makes the song, and makes him who he is... All in all he is good and he is the one and only Lars!
 
tambian89 said:
If he uses the ride on those songs, ok, but he uses it too sparingly, and most of his drumming is crash and hihats.


syaoran05 said:
i think the ride issue has stopped now?

i think no one should criticize lars for rarely playing the ride. its not his fault he doesnt. metallica music does not require much riding anyway. just like franz ferdinand doesnt need a ride.

and i think what's good about lars [and perhaps the only good thing] is that he plays what is needed, and does not play what is not needed. hence if ride no need then no ride it is. and i think that's one of the better lessons in music. dont overplay.

there isnt anything wrong if someone doesnt use a ride. "too sparingly" in drumming doesnt exist. tambian89 let's see you play every cymbal on bozzios kit and make sure that each cymbal isnt played "too sparingly". a ride isnt required to be played. like i said, franz ferdinand doesnt need one so they dont use one. look back at the very old jazz days. they dont even use the ride for timekeeping yet. its all bass and snare then an occasional crash. hi hats weren't even invented yet. now let's see you travel back through time and say "they use the ride too sparingly and its all bass and snare, and they dont even own hi hats!".

so yeah again, lars plays what is needed, and he doesnt play what isnt needed, or what he cant.
 
Ok maybe lars isnt the greatest drummer ever but the fact is......when a band are looking for a record deal it doesnt go on how good the drummer is or guitarist or bassist or singer....it goes on the quality of songs they write together and the quality of them playing together. rush, dream theatre and zeplan didnt get a deal because of their drummers talent its a group thing. Lars plays wat fits the song and that works with the band and that is perfectly fine.Look at so many drummers in bands with deals some really arent fantastic players but tey suit the band.

Also lars was a huge inspiration to start playing to countless people so i think that may get him off the hook for nont playng as good as e used to imo
 
DrumGod said:
Ok maybe lars isnt the greatest drummer ever but the fact is......when a band are looking for a record deal it doesnt go on how good the drummer is or guitarist or bassist or singer....it goes on the quality of songs they write together and the quality of them playing together. rush, dream theatre and zeplan didnt get a deal because of their drummers talent its a group thing. Lars plays wat fits the song and that works with the band and that is perfectly fine.Look at so many drummers in bands with deals some really arent fantastic players but tey suit the band.

Also lars was a huge inspiration to start playing to countless people so i think that may get him off the hook for nont playng as good as e used to imo

Maybe...but then again, I belive a group of skilled musicians will make better quality songs...
 
Audun_D said:
I agree with figure...

I disagree. Maybe better songs for musicians.

Most popular groups filled with average musicians and not super musicians. Super musicians usually focus way too much on playing to impress. This is not always true, but certainly most of the time. Super musicians make a living by making music that impresses other musicians not the main stream audience.
 
figure_02 said:
Maybe...but then again, I belive a group of skilled musicians will make better quality songs...

i agree and disagree...

i agree that it takes skilled musicians to make good quality songs..

i disagree that you have to be super skilled to do better quality songs..

i agree with mikei

mikei said:
Most popular groups filled with average musicians and not super musicians. Super musicians make a living by making music that impresses other musicians not the main stream audience.

i can prove that.

try to list down all the good bands whom their drummer isnt anyone who has an artists page on this site.

it'll prolly take up lots of paper just to list that down.

what does that prove?

you dont need a super skilled drummer to create great music.

yeah maybe you can get a better drummer, but if he cant play what the band needs, then its useless.

yeah maybe you can get a better drummer, but what if all you need is a straight 8 rock beat kick on 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4? would it make any difference?

the point is, lars isnt a good drummer technically. as a drummer alone, he's nothing next to a professional session drummer.

BUT

he plays what is needed, and only what is needed. Metallica doesnt need all that fancy drum stuff. he doesnt overplay. besides, would it help if he played a samba pattern in a Metallica song? hell no.

lars plays what is needed and he delivers. that's the most important thing.

besides, if you get a record deal, that means youre skilled enough to do your stuff. i didnt say a good drummer, i just said skilled enough to deliver what is needed.
 
Personally I like the older stuff,MOP, is a great album,but over on the TAMA forum he gets bashed pretty well. One guy has "Lars is just mad his snare sounds like a metal chair" as his signature !
 
he was ok in earlier days, his drumming on saniturium is real good but the st. anger album is a disgrace
 
Darren675 said:
he was ok in earlier days, his drumming on saniturium is real good but the st. anger album is a disgrace

St Anger is an offence committed by the entire band... Having said that I heard a rumour that Tama were most disappointed by the drum sound on that piece of utter rubbish.

To me, I think he has lost much of his passion for playing. His strength IMHO has always been in the arranging of songs, making them quirky/interesting without sounding proggy. Similar to how Paul Bostaph affected Slayer.
 
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