Lars Ulrich

Back in my junior high and high school days he inspired me. I liked him back then. I still listen to their older music (The Black album being the newest I listen to). Today there are many drummers who's skills and technical abilities far exceed Lars's.
 
DrumEatDrum said:
Lars has very rarely ever used a ride cymbal for most of his career.

He had one in the early days, he took it off, never to be seen again for like 20 years, it made a brief reappearance in the early 2000s, then disappeared again.

I am pretty sure one could count the number of songs Lars has ever recorded with a ride cymbal on one hand
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Load & ReLoad he used one. Watch any concert footage between 1996-1999, But that was about it. Couple songs in the early 80's too.
 
Living Dead Drummer said:
Load & ReLoad he used one. Watch any concert footage between 1996-1999, But that was about it. Couple songs in the early 80's too.
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I had the concept right, but I was off a few years.

I know he had one the last time I saw them, which in my head was like 2003/2004. But I just looked it up, and it was actually July 2000. So my memory is just off a few years.

But all the times I saw them in the late 80s and early to mid 90's, he didn't have a ride.

Though you certainly hear it on the 1st two albums, and very briefly on the Master of Puppets album (the bridge on Back to the Front). But not often.
 
Uncle Albert said:
I was never aware of the hate. I personally love the little guy
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I personally never hated him, I just did not look at him as a top shelf drummer....esp after hearing Charlie Benante in the same time frame. No one in "thrash era #1" was touching Benante
 
DrumEatDrum said:
I had the concept right, but I was off a few years.

I know he had one the last time I saw them, which in my head was like 2003/2004. But I just looked it up, and it was actually July 2000. So my memory is just off a few years.

But all the times I saw them in the late 80s and early to mid 90's, he didn't have a ride.

Though you certainly hear it on the 1st two albums, and very briefly on the Master of Puppets album (the bridge on Back to the Front). But not often.
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I had to look that one up, is it Disposable Heroes ?
 
When I was at school I was told by some kid that lars is the best drummer in the world because apparently at the time he held the world double pedal speed record or some such crap, probably not even true. Anyway, I haven't followed metallica that closely. I like most of the songs that most people know. But I will say that on one of their more recent albums he did some weird off beat bit that ii wouldn't have expected out of lars and it was genuinely a great passage of drumming. to me metallica wouldn't be metallica without him .
 
Fluffster said:
When I was at school I was told by some kid that lars is the best drummer in the world because apparently at the time he held the world double pedal speed record or some such crap, probably not even true.
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Most definitley not true 😄
Fluffster said:
to me metallica wouldn't be metallica without him .
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I thought this guy made a pretty good case for that as well....
 
Fluffster said:
When I was at school I was told by some kid that lars is the best drummer in the world because apparently at the time he held the world double pedal speed record or some such crap
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lars has never been a heavy double bass player, but back in the day can only imagine the double bass speed record would have gone to lombardo
 
Liam said:
I don’t know when he did it but Lars has played a China in place of a ride for many years.
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don't remember when he lost the ride, was def there in KEA. someone said a small part on MOP, but by AJFA the x-hats. think this carried on thru black tour, at some point after the chyna.
 
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If i remember correctly he also used a ride for the St. Anger album. Remember seeing a K Ride in the video for the same song.
 
rollthedice said:
lars has never been a heavy double bass player, but back in the day can only imagine the double bass speed record would have gone to lombardo
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At that time, there were faster double bass players and Ulrich and Lombardo only played a few parts of continuous double bass this guys did more: Paul Marzurkiewikz (Cannibal Corpse), Steve Asheim (Deicide), Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel/Terrorizer) Raymond Herrera (Fear Factory) to name a few. All with much faster double bass parts than either Ulrich or Lombardo.
 
doggyd69b said:
At that time, there were faster double bass players and Ulrich and Lombardo only played a few parts of continuous double bass this guys did more: Paul Marzurkiewikz (Cannibal Corpse), Steve Asheim (Deicide), Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel/Terrorizer) Raymond Herrera (Fear Factory) to name a few. All with much faster double bass parts than either Ulrich or Lombardo.
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can't disagree. meant more out of the big four
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I personally never hated him, I just did not look at him as a top shelf drummer....esp after hearing Charlie Benante in the same time frame. No one in "thrash era #1" was touching Benante
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Nobody was doing what Lars was doing. There were "better" drummers like Benante, but they were still playing very conventionally and straight forward. Lars' weird crash placements and chokes, playing over the bar, using empty space. It was brilliant. And like I said, he was the only one doing it, (besides Steve Zimmerman of Fates Warning who was doing it on another level entirely).

He influenced millions, and you can hear it in the playing of the best metal drummers who followed.

That's greatness.
 
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bud7h4 said:
Nobody was doing what Lars was doing. There were "better" drummers like Benante, but they were still playing very conventionally and straight forward. Lars' weird crash placements and chokes, playing over the bar, using empty space. He was brilliant. And like I said, he was the only one doing it, (besides Steve Zimmerman of Fates Warning who was doing it on another level entirely).

It influenced millions, and you can hear it in the playing of the best metal drummers who followed.

That's greatness.
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Agree with all the above. (also never hated Lars, just think he should shut his mouth sometimes).
 
bud7h4 said:
Nobody was doing what Lars was doing. There were "better" drummers like Benante, but they were still playing very conventionally and straight forward. Lars' weird crash placements and chokes, playing over the bar, using empty space. He was brilliant. And like I said, he was the only one doing it, (besides Steve Zimmerman of Fates Warning who was doing it on another level entirely).
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THIS^

It's funny you mention Zimmerman because he and Lars were both huge influences on my playing, along with Rick Colaluca from Watchtower and Sean Reinert in anything he does (Rick and Sean are on yet another level ).
Steve has such an unorthodox style. His hands are terrible, and I have no idea what his head is doing in relation to the beat. It's not headbanging, per se, but more like he's moving his head in another time signature altogether. I honestly don't know how he does it, but it certainly works for him.
The same goes for his setup. I've been tempted to put it in the tom angles thread, but he's too big an influence to show anything that might be misconstrued as disrespect.
 
toddmc said:
The latest Metallica song is a good example

Hey, I "love the little guy" too but you have to admit his drumming has been on a downward trajectory since the black album (some would say after Justice).
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Just thought of something; maybe he's struggling to play ordinary rock (post Justice) when it's not in his DNA.
 
bud7h4 said:
Just thought of something; maybe he's struggling to play ordinary rock (post Justice) when it's not in his DNA.
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To be fair he struggled playing "prog rock" on Justice too but ironically he said the hardest learning curve was how to slow down and "groove"/ stay in the pocket on the black album.
 
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