Neil Peart

The other important thing to remember is Neil Peart plays in what I like to call "Happy-Medium" mode. He shifts along with the complexity of the entire band; when the guitar/bass has a complex rhythm, he backs off with a simple beat; when the guitar/bass are simply pumping out the same three-chord monotone, he starts going into his own world of complexity, primarily with the ride cymbal and bass drum.

This is an important skill for drummers to have. Over the years, I've noticed that too much complexity can lull an audience to sleep just as bad as too much simplicity. Music is an expression of emotion in its purest form, and thus, the entire band needs to share the weight as opposed to just one player. Therefore, while some drummers might curse Peart for playing the same "monotonous" rhythm in each of his songs and say that about 95% of his playing is as common as any other drummer, the important thing to remember is that Peart is allowing the rest of the band to express their music as well. He's a wise drummer in the sense that he saves his best talents for when they are needed most.

For those who say that Peart is overrated because he plays the same thing over and over again, be aware that a lot of his stuff is very methodical as opposed to improvisational. Peart has such a scientific mind (just read his lyrics and, if you get a chance, Ghost Rider) that he sees everything in a plug-n-chug mode. He may play the exact same thing for the same song, but in my opinion, a drummer who practices one thing a thousand times is better-versed in percussion than a drummer who practices a thousand things once.

That's my schpeel.
 
Although I think it's impossible to rate any drummer as the "BEST EVER", this guy has to come close.

Unfortunately, RUSH have never toured in Australia. Damn shame that. They are not well known over here to crappy mainstream radio stations who would rather plug talentless manufactured "Idol" tools then run great bands who can actually play. But every muso knows them, wants to be able to play like them, and have been waiting 30 years for them to come down under. They would fill stadiums no problem, but I'm not sure they know that.

Peart's solo's are the best I've ever seen, his speed and clinical execution is nothing short of brilliant, that's a personal view, ....would be nice to see live though....
 
Fish said:
Although I think it's impossible to rate any drummer as the "BEST EVER", this guy has to come close.

Unfortunately, RUSH have never toured in Australia. Damn shame that. They are not well known over here to crappy mainstream radio stations who would rather plug talentless manufactured "Idol" tools then run great bands who can actually play. But every muso knows them, wants to be able to play like them, and have been waiting 30 years for them to come down under. They would fill stadiums no problem, but I'm not sure they know that.

Peart's solo's are the best I've ever seen, his speed and clinical execution is nothing short of brilliant, that's a personal view, ....would be nice to see live though....

You know, Rush tours where the album sales are. It seems to me if they can Pack the house in RIO, they really should tour Australia. I wish there was a way for the Ghostrider to see this and put it on his ajenda. Autralia is a big country, and I bet Rush would do well there.
 
Thinshells said:
You know, Rush tours where the album sales are. It seems to me if they can Pack the house in RIO, they really should tour Australia. I wish there was a way for the Ghostrider to see this and put it on his ajenda. Autralia is a big country, and I bet Rush would do well there.



They would do very well here. And they wouldn't have to tour the whole country, just the East coast - Melbourne and Sydney. I'm in Perth on the West coast, which is probably too small for them, but I would take the 4 hour flight east to see them, as I'm sure many would.

More and more of the bigger international bands are beginning to tour Australia. Foo Fighters come here a bit, they have played at some great festivals. Motley Crue are touring with Motorhead next month, to name a few.

I'm sure the Professor would enjoy some time out riding the Australian coastline too.
 
I am designing my next maple kit (one possibility) to copy either the mahogany superstar kit or the bright red "weapon" Artstar prototype kit Neil used. I have always wanted that kit.
 
I have somehow reached the age of 24 without ever hearing so much as a snippet of a Rush tune. Jealous, Finn? But one thing I've never forgotten was the '25 Greatest Drummers Poll' in the 25th Anniversary edition Modern Drummer. In it, the magazine readily praises 24 of the drummers, offering its own opinion as to why they are correctly esteemed.The Neil Peart summary, however, reads like this (emphasis added):

"The most influential rock drummer of all time, Neil Peart's work with the progressive-rock trio Rush is considered to be classic. Many drummers relate to and are excited by Peart's powerful big-kit approach..."

I wasn't left in much doubt as to what the writer on that feature thought of Neil Peart!

It really is about time I listened to it myself, though. ThinShells, perhaps you could recommend me your favourite album?
 
Womble said:
I have somehow reached the age of 24 without ever hearing so much as a snippet of a Rush tune. Jealous, Finn? But one thing I've never forgotten was the '25 Greatest Drummers Poll' in the 25th Anniversary edition Modern Drummer. In it, the magazine readily praises 24 of the drummers, offering its own opinion as to why they are correctly esteemed.The Neil Peart summary, however, reads like this (emphasis added):

"The most influential rock drummer of all time, Neil Peart's work with the progressive-rock trio Rush is considered to be classic. Many drummers relate to and are excited by Peart's powerful big-kit approach..."

I wasn't left in much doubt as to what the writer on that feature thought of Neil Peart!

It really is about time I listened to it myself, though. ThinShells, perhaps you could recommend me your favourite album?

Well, Chronicles has a great cross section of tunes. The Rush in Rio DVD is amazing.
 
Neil has evolved over the years so, I would recommend starting at the beginning. Fly By Night is the second Rush album and the first album with Neil. You will hear many of his signature rhythms on this album.

Many people are turned off by the style of music or Geddy Lee's vocals. Even if that's not your cup of tea, it's worth spending some time listening to the various Rush albums to hear the magic that is in that guys hands.

Daddy-o
 
Yeah, some people have asked me if the singer was female!

I think after you get used to it, you realise that Geddy's distinct voice matches their style perfectly.
But the main drawcard to RUSH is that they are all masters of their respective instruments and they play live with incredible force and accuracy. No, I haven't seen them live personally, but have several live video's and CD's.
Have a look at "A Show of Hands" on video, not just at the drumming, which is wild, but check out Geddy's ability with the Bass and keyboards and of course singing while he's at it......just remember to take a breath every now and then!!

A couple of great live CD's to get are:
"All The World's a Stage" from a 1976 concert, the song "Anthem" is just nuts.
and,
"Exit...Stage Left" this of course has the best drum solo I have ever heard, "YYZ". (please no Moby Dick fans get upset..I love that too!! ) Check out Neil's website for a great animated version, very cool.

Cheers!
 
so neil plays every note. every time. you cant. you get mad. totally understandable. i was in a drum corps for a couple years and i asked the director why it was necasary to play the piece right every time and if the guys at the top ever made mistakes. he said they did not make mistakes because there were 200 other guys out there who would be willing to fill the spot and they would play the part if i could not. so i practiced. neil is lucky to be able to play his own licks on the big stage. practice, practice, practice.
 
THIS SITE IS UNREAL!!!!!

Ive got to say its the first time i have heard neil and un technical in the same sentence.

I met neil 1988 when i was in Toronto doing a tattoo in the Skydome with my own band.

He came over to us and complemented us on our technical ability.

He then asked me to show him some of our own more technical movement.

Things like flam para triplets, paradiddle diddles which were not heard of in kit drumming at the time and open single work including doubles with 5s and 7s.
Neil uses all of these movements to this day and picked them up reasonably quickly( much much much quicker than any other kit drummer i had came across) and to a high standard.

How many missed notes or rim shots do you hear between drums?
How many missed notes when he plays single runs?
 
I can understand the people that criticize Neil for his lack of improvisation but... COME ON! Does he even need to improvise? Neil is the "brain" of the band, Alex Lifeson is the one who has this rock 'n roll soul and who improvises. As for his solo, it's still very interesting to watch, specially for non-drummers. Better than those drummers who make rudiments solo just for the crowd to go 'yawn'.

I'm influenced by Neil not only on drumming, but as a person too.. he's very intelligent, not like the rock stars who just sit at home drugging themselves and banging groupies. He gets his bike and goes to Mali; Travels to China, etc., his philosophy of life really influences me. His lyrics might seem unconventional at times, but there's much more in them than in a "I wanna Rock!! Rock!! I waaaant to Rock" kind of tune.

I remember I got to have drum lessons at the same time I got to hear Moving Pictures for the first time, and my teacher was a huge Rush fan as well, and he gave me "Drum Techniques Of Rush". I still run to the book whenever I want to get inspiration for some drumline.

I have transcribed a few songs for the Rush Tablature Project, you might want to check it out!!

See you,
Edu
 
Peart got me interested in playing music again, after a long time. His lyrics also were what lead me to better understanding my own philosophy in life. That said, I'll comment on some of the previous posts and then summarize my opinion.

Bonham to the moon said:
thats why i dislike him, its like why would you want to go to a concert and listen to the SAME thing you would hear on the CD, i dunno, its kinda boring.

You definitely do not hear the exact same thing as on the CD. Rush improvises, they just don't mess with their songs (with the exception of Alex, who changes his solos). They jazz up song beginnings and endings, bridge songs etc. Also, the energy they play with when live makes for an incredibly different experience when compared with the crystal clear, laboratory grade precision of most of their recordings.

If you had seen "Natural Science" as it was performed in São Paulo, you would understand what I mean.

The crux of the matter is this: Peart is a perfectionist. His drum parts are crafted for perfection, in content, expression and execution. I am quite sure that he would consider any "changed" version he could play live as worse than the original. Unlike most of the bands out there, Rush sogns are a cohesive engineered whole - you can't change something and make it better (or as good) just like that.

Stu_Strib said:
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"

Are they serious? What horrible lyrics under the pretense of genius. Cutesy word play should be left to popular country music.

It is genius, you just didn't understand. I'll have to refer you to the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

Stu_Strib said:
If I sound like a disgrunted Rush fan, that's because I am. Everything up to about 1985 was so good, and its all been horrifying since.

Show don't tell, Dreamline, Bravado (one of the top 5 Rush songs in my opinion, which is saying a lot), Animate, Leave that thing alone are all excellent. I do agree that most of the best material is in the period up to Grace Under Pressure. Horrifying is taking it way too far. The only CD I don't play frequently is Test for Echo.

kazzman said:
I'm probably going to be castrated for what I'm about to say, but I've been finding Neil's drum solo's repetetive and boring as of late too.

Me too! To be honest, the "A Show of Hands" version was so good, I'm sad he changed it.

Thinshells said:
Neil never struck me as any more of an ego maniac more than any other extremely excellent world-reknown drummer.

davodi74 said:
Neil Peart is a humble person.

If being humble means acting as or beleiving you are less good than you are, I can assure you Peart is nothing of the sort. Peart is an Objectivist, which is clear from his lyrics. This philosophy is based on strict adherence to reality, with no softening or accomodating. He is most likely very aware of how good he is, and acts accordingly.

Being the best at something and proud of it does not make you a bad person.

I agree entirely with your post Sabian_Dragon. Peart does not write a drum part to be played along with a song, he writes part of the song itself. The drumming in Rush's songs is as essential as the guitar riffs or bass line.

While this means that Peart's drum parts are not constant exercises in virtuosism, it actually makes him a better drummer. In my opinion, the best.

mrocktor
 
morphe said:
Am i the only one who's noticed that neil peart isn't that tight when performing live?

I have heard upon occasion, he does goof. in fact, during one concert he dropped his sticks 4 times.

I have seen him live twice. He was flawless.
 
I was there in the recording of Rush In Rio, and I remember clearly that he missed a fill in "Limelight", but they probably "fixed" it in the studio.

As for Rush's lyrics, sometimes they almost get to the level of pretentiousness, but songs like "Subdivisions", "The Trees"... it's music for the mind, it's not stuff like "I'm gonna rock and roll all nite". Not that the latter isn't good music, it's just that we must have a balance (see the lyrics in Hemispheres, damn, you just can't stop quoting Rush :p)
 
yup...neil peart has been a favourite of mine for many a year...have seen them 4 times now..the last one was earlier this year in glasgow...the sound was awsome and the sound from neils kit was quite stunning....i have his dvd which was very informative...at the glasgow gig though,they made a total blunder at the start of spirit of radio...alex and geddy looked at neil....neil just glimpsed up and gave a wry smile at them both...a brilliant moment,showing they(he) are human afterall....drum solo out of this world..i have seen more technical solos,but,great rythym and showmanship thrown in for good measure...he just looked so relaxed and totally into it....what a man....long live pearty
 
In my opinion Neil Peart is the greastest drummer of all time. I have not seen a better or more influencial drummer ever. I have been drumming since i was 6. My faveriote stuff to play is his music from my rush drum books. I have mastered led Zepplin, Nirvana, (just started steve gadd music), and of course rush. The drumming in rush is by far the hardest and most fun to play. To all you haters out there of Neil saying hes "one of the best but i dont think he is as good as..." I say get a clue. If you can find a better drummer then let me know.
 
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