56 Quotes by Buddy Rich

So, to come In with a set routine it's something I've never believed in. It should depend on how you feel, because you play what you feel.

To have everything written for you... It's not really creating. That's why I think symphony drummers are so limited. They 're limited to exactly what was played a hundred years before them by a thousand other drummers.

I think the drummer should sit back there and play some drums, and never mind about the tunes. Just get up there and wail behind whoever is sitting up there playing the solo. And this is what is lacking, definitely lacking in music today.

Almost everything I've done, I've done through my own creativity. I don't think I ever had to listen to anyone else to learn how to play drums. I wish I could say that for about ten thousand other drummers.

They're simply following what was laid down in front and they play the same thing. So, there's no great challenge In being a classical drummer.

Every drummer that had a name, had a name because of his individual playing. He didn't sound like anybody else, So everybody that I ever listened to, in some form, influenced my taste.

I think it's a fallacy that the harder you practice the better you get.

But I think that any young drummer starting out today should get himself a great teacher and learn all there is to know about the instrument that he wants to play.

If he's a true symphony artist, he knows better than that because he knows that the only truly creative musician is the jazz musician.