Carter Beauford

In my opinion, Carter Beauford is one of the top three drummers I have ever heard, and I say that confidently. The DMB drummer with his original style, swagger and movements easily has made his name for himself as one of the best.

Carter, who was first exposed to drumming at the age of three by his father, his interest for the instrument quickly took off. By age nine he was playing professionally, his inspiration, the infamous drummer Buddy Rich. Beauford taught himself to be completely ambidextrous, by accident. He would try so much to emulate Rich's drumming style, that he would set up his own drum kit as a kid in front of a mirror, using his left hand lead on a right handed kit and so on. He unknowingly set up his drums in reverse of whichever performer and set that he had in mind, in attempt to make the mirrored image of himself match that of the audience perspective, like he had seen on stage or TV.

This unique style and his ability to be ambidextrous proved to help him later on , carve a path for a new style of drumming especially with DMB. As one of the original members of the band, carter has had a heavy influence on the sound and tempo of their songs. Without him the band would just simply not be. I do believe he is the backbone and obvious tempo keeper of the entire band. His solos are unmatched, his style is beautiful and the sounds he can make those little drums make is truly unbelievable.

On Friday night he had his own solo at the show in DC. It was easily the highlight of the entire two hours. Unbelievable. I'm just glad that I'm able to see this man live, I know it will be a name my kids will talk about. (Well that is if I do my job right, and they are cool kids)....