Speed Drumming

Every once in awhile, an innovation comes along in music that helps shape the future of the industry. Still, people fear change. Many view the advancement as an attack to the establishment. They try to resist for as long as they possibly can until it becomes accepted by the majority thus making it mainstream. When Rock & Roll came about, many thought it would lead to the downfall of America's youth. When Ray Charles combined gospel music with R&B, many said it was blasphemous and degrading God's work. Yet, Ray Charles is now considered one of the greatest music innovators of the 20th century. Enter speed drumming . Not immune to the same criticism, this latest craze is taking the drumming world by storm and creating quite a stir. Although it's been embraced by many drummers young and old, others see it as an infringement upon their revered tradition.

While the practice of fast drumming is not entirely recent, the ability to accurately measure and rank it is a new concept. The beginnings of modern speed drumming started in the windy city of Chicago during the year 1975. It was there that Boo McAfee was present at a demonstration by Barrett Deems where he claimed to be "The World's Fastest Drummer." A voice of doubt emerged from the crowd. "Oh, yeah," the person asked. "What machine did you use?" McAfee turned to see the voice belonged to none other than drumming legend Buddy Rich. The memory of that event lingered in McAfee's mind. Then in 1999, McAfee collaborated with fellow drummer and engineer Craig Alan to develop a machine to measure the speed of drumming. After two months of work, the device was developed and dubbed The Drum-o-meter. It calculated the number of strokes for up to a 90 second time span for such rudiments as the single stroke roll, the double stroke roll, and paradiddles. The DrumoMeter was first showcased at the 1999 PASIC and, then, released for purchase on April 2, 2000, the anniversary of Buddy Rich's death. This new innovative invention paved the way for the world of speed drumming to emerge as a credible faction of drumming.

With their new stroke-measuring device, McAfee and Alan needed a creative way to market their idea into the world of drumming. So, they decided to establish the World's Fastest Drummer Organization or WFD for short. The idea was to pit drummers against each other in a competition to determine with accuracy the indisputable fastest drummer of the world using the DrumoMeter. In the first event of its kind, Johnny Rabb won the competition sponsored by the Nashville Percussion Institute. He performed an astonishing 1,026 single stroke rolls in one minute. Rabb was asked to later defend his title on VH1's live broadcast of Rock & Roll Record Breakers in Orlando, Florida. His fast drumming produced 1,071 strokes in one minute and earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest drummer in the world. The WFD (or Worlds Fastest Drummer) started to pick up steam and, in 2007, they established a regular competition at the annual NAMM show. The winner of the competition was presented a championship belt similar to the ones awarded on WWE wrestling. The exhibition was eventually split to include separate recognition for the fastest hand drummer and fastest foot drummer. This fun, exciting showcase spotlighting the skills of speed drumming propelled the movement to another level.

As the modern speed drumming movement gained momentum, the number of drummers participating grew. With most new areas of music, there are those that will rise above the others and carve out a name for themselves as the pace setters to which the rest of the field must catch up. The drummers of speed drumming that fall into this category are as follows:

Mike Mangini, drummer for Extreme and the Steve Vai Band, set the current world record at the WFD
by achieving 1,203 single stroke rolls on the Drum o Meter in one minute in January 2007.

Jotan Afanador of Bronx New York -1,199 single strokes. WFD, Summer of 2007.

Art Verdi held the title of fastest drummer from April 2001 through May 2007 by performing 1,116 strokes in sixty seconds. ArtVerdi.com

Tim Waterson holds the Guinness Record for being the fastest foot drummer. Waterson, also known as "The Drumcan Man" because of he built and performs on a kit he designed entirely of recycled materials, managed to bang out 1,239 double strokes in one minute's time on the Drum o Meter in November 2001 at the Montreal Drum Festival. He later broke that record in January of 2007 by reaching 1,407 double strokes in one minute at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. (Tim holds both the World Fastest Feet records for singles at 1,030 and doubles at 1,407.)