Lars Ulrich: good drummer or bad?

[Absintheminded]

Lars Ulrich is both good and bad. He's just fine for Metallica, any more and it would probably take away from the music. Having said that, he plays mickey mouse single stroke fills that any intermediate drummer could play.

[DingDongKing]

Lars is a shit drummer when it comes to the upper echelons of music, he's just a founding member. There are a plethora of better drummers than him in the metal scene alone.

A lot of bands will have one or two musicians that are "crap" i.e there are others that are technically better, but they're a group of mates having fun and making decent music.

He's not 'just' a founding member. He's literally had a hand in composing every Metallica song made.

He may not be an excellent musician like Chris Adler or Charlie Benante or Brann Dailor, but he's vital to Metallica.

There would be no Metallica without him.

[Femininity]

The real question - which Mike is better?

[Dellis0991]

Lars is ok, personally I like Dana Carey and Tomas Haake....those guys are machines.

[Femininity]

Brann Dailor.

Stargasm is probably the tastiest thing he's ever done.

[DingDongKing]

Stargasm is probably the tastiest thing he's ever done.

I remember it was 2009 or so and Mastodon were on Letterman. Motherfucker starts SINGING Oblivion and I'm like...wait what?

Since then his vocals with every passing album have just gotten better and better. I cannot wait for the new album. Emperor of Sand blew me away.

The band I was in used to cover Blood and Thunder as our encore. Was their easiest song personally.

[sayowol780]

Metallica is successful commercially, but that doesn't really say much. Among peers, Portnoy is lightyears more respected both as a drummer and as a creator of music. Different approaches to their playing of course.

And all the best drummers do practice, and they care about their craft because it is an important part of who they are. John Bonham and Neil Peart both used to practice a lot, because it mattered to the quality of their music, but also because it was demanded of them to be able to play their parts perfectly on stage because that's what people expect. It's called being a perfectionist. A lot of the best musicians practice constantly. Touring one can argue is a form of practice since you get out there almost every night and play for 2-3 hours, but some guys play a lot more than that per day.

Yep, sure - that was, broadly, my point.

Metallica's colossal commercial success allowed Lars to fill a seat he would have been kicked out of many, many years ago if judged solely on his technical ability.

However: technical ability...

Is this the be all and end all? Do you rate Dylan's music on the quality of his voice or what he had to say?

And I say this as someone who rates technical ability very highly.

[Polyxo]

Technically, he's trash. He's really bad. Apparently James Hetfield is a much better drummer. As a creative, he does well playing simplistically, and that's good for their recording process.

[melodramocracy]

Not a great drummer. He has a pretty awful sense of tempo (watch any of his live work for an example), but fortunately the band knows how to move along with him. AJFA was probably the pinnacle of his drum work, and it's all been downhill since.

You can absolutely get away with slop timing in the right context. Fairly tight metal is not a place where that sort of playing works that well, so he just sounds like a mess.

On top of that, he's also a horrid engineer, and should be kept away from sliders at all times.

[Unikali]

I think he is a great musician! I would really like to play the same, but I play the guitar

[willtron]

He's not 'just' a founding member. He's literally had a hand in composing every Metallica song made.

He may not be an excellent musician like Chris Adler or Charlie Benante or Brann Dailor, but he's vital to Metallica.

There would be no Metallica without him.

The question isn't to do with composing, it's to do with his drumming ability, and on that he's wank.

[Goliad]

Lars is good for the genre he plays. He is serviceable for Metallica's sound.


That being said, there are countless bands out there of the same or similar genre with music that is more complex, and with better drummers. If we are going by "is Lars Ulrich the best drummer in metal" then the answer is a hard no.


Is Lars a good drummer? Yes. What constitutes being "good" at drumming? Many factors. And not all factors are based in technique.


(this coming from myself being a drummer for 23 years)


EDIT: A bit off-topic, but I sometimes hate watching Metallica's live shows because I always find myself focusing in on Lar's keeping time or not. He's sometimes... off. He's rarely a tight drummer.

The reason my friends agree about live Lars is that it seems like the drums on some shows are too loud over everything else. In those instances you can hear him being off. It's not every show, but once you hear it , you listen for it. It's like when i ruined Sons of Anarchy for my friends when I pointed out how white and bright Jax's shoes are in every episode and then they couldn't help but notice it. Some shows Lars is overpowering .

[DingDongKing]

The question isn't to do with composing, it's to do with his drumming ability, and on that he's wank.

He’s a capable drummer. And the fact that he is SUCH an accomplished composer, overrides his deficiencies as a drummer. He’s got his name on more classic songs within metal and music as a whole than most do.

[Zenfoldor]

Good drummer, imho.

[willtron]

He’s a capable drummer. And the fact that he is SUCH an accomplished composer, overrides his deficiencies as a drummer. He’s got his name on more classic songs within metal and music as a whole than most do.

But the composing doesn't make him a good drummer. I don't know why you can't seperate the two.

[Nephod]

To me he is one of the best, simply because I learned the drums in my room as a kid while playing along to (parts of) their songs. He does a lot with what talent he's got, and you can never throw shit at him concidering where he is and has been. He learned to play drums after forming a band, after all.


Everyone loves to hate on him and it's easy if you compare him to...Danny Carey or Mike Portnoy etc. I rate him as very good at what he does. I've seen/heard him live many times and can honestly say he did a wonderful job.

[DingDongKing]

But the composing doesn't make him a good drummer. I don't know why you can't seperate the two.

Because if you take Lars Ulrich out of Metallica, there is no Metallica. And I value Metallica more than whether Lars' drumming is virtuosic or not.

He's also inspired more people to becoming musicians and/or drummers than other metal drummers.