Did FREDDIE GRUBER ruin NEIL PEART? | Part One: Fraud or Guru?

Comments · 882

• SH

  @shawnschiebrel · 3 months ago (edited)

  there are thousands of people that can play all of these songs, they aren't impossible, complicated, yes, but tons of people, young, old, male, female ... etc can play the parts... what we mere mortals need to remember always, is that Neil created these parts.    Quite a leap from just being able to play them...

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• SN

  @snaredude56 · 3 months ago

  Great video. It was Steve Smith that turned Neil onto Freddie during the Burning for Buddy sessions. I think several things lead to Neil&apos;s &quot;evolution&quot; as a drummer. He got a BMW motorcycle and started riding from show to show during the Test for Echo tour which was the album right after his studies with Freddie. He continued this travel routine for the rest of his time with Rush. I suspect that intense concentration and control required to ride his motorcycle for so many miles affected his physique and his drumming. Imagine having to be that stiff and focused traveling hundreds of miles a day on tour and then showing up at the venue, playing for 3 hours, getting on the tour bus to get some sleep while the bus driver heads to the next city and heading out the next day to ride hundreds of miles to the next show. <br><br>He also tragically lost his only daughter and shortly thereafter his wife shortly after the TFE tour ended. He gave up the drums, told Geddy and Alex to &quot;consider him retired&quot; and went on a 55,000 mile solitary motorcycle tour. That amount of loss and grief had to have taken a toll on him. He talked about how for years he would drown his grief with alcohol and drugs on the anniversaries of their deaths. &nbsp;Any work that he did with Freddie went out the window when all of this happened, although they remained friends.<br><br>He was also getting older. When you look at him on A Work In Progress, he was starting to show some age, but was still pretty fit and trim. By the time Vapor Trails came out after his hiatus, he had started to show some more age and he started gradually gaining some weight. That had to have slowed him down greatly and he became more economical in his playing. He greatly stripped down Natural Science during this period and his playing on the last two albums was much simpler and deliberate. I find it interesting that the most accurate material that Anika plays are songs from those last two albums. I don&apos;t know if they are more in her wheelhouse or if it was just easier to memorize because they are simpler.

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• CI

  @ciadella1971 · 3 months ago (edited)

  Neil wrote those iconic drum parts and lyrics. &nbsp;There is a difference writing the parts and learning the parts. &nbsp;And remember Neil came up with those parts and lyrics over the last 50 years. &nbsp; There werent as many drummers on his level in those days. &nbsp;Now we have the internet and 8 year old kids playing like Dave Weckl.

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• RO

  @rocknrebb · 3 months ago (edited)

  Neil was the best drummer/lyricist in the universe for RUSH<br><br>In any other context there are plenty of other drummers that would be considered “better” but as we all know better is a very subjective term. <br>Having superior technique does not automatically make a Drummer or musician better for the band they are in. <br><br>I prefer Neil‘s drumming before the Freddie Gruber era , but let’s face it, most of us were more aggressive, hard hitting and intense in our youth and Neil is no exception, regardless of the Freddy Gruber lessons I applaud &nbsp;Neil for seeking out a mentor at that point in his life and &nbsp;striving for continued improvement.<br><br>That being said, I think Anika is doing a fantastic job!

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• JO

  @John-k6f9k · 3 months ago (edited)

  I hope Andy can buy a farm in the Cotswolds and make a series about how his farming year went.

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• 00

  @000dr0g · 3 months ago (edited)

  Great video. Your explanation of the drummer menopause was riveting, as was it a painful and fascinating diagnosis of your own, Peart and Collins&apos; experience, and put in a historical context to boot. It makes so much sense! I have only ever dabbled with drumming as a hobby starting in my mid 40s, in the mid 2000s, so the only thing I can relate to is seeking advice from books, DVDs (e.g. Tommy Igoe, Starks and Stuberfield, Joe Morello), some lessons from a local drum teacher, and the emerging YT content - and trying to make sense of it all! I love the randomness, embellishment and emerging ideas of it all. I hope these videos prevent possible future injuries.

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• DA

  @Dan-hc1ow · 3 months ago (edited)

  Fact: &nbsp;Neil started out taking lessons from a local drummer/teacher named Don George. &nbsp;So, he did learn the basics like reading and at least some of the rudiments. &nbsp;This also included traditional grip. &nbsp;You can see him using traditional grip in their videos for songs like &quot;Xanadu&quot; and &quot;Countdown&quot; (from the Signals album). &nbsp;Stewart Copeland is also formally trained. &nbsp;One of his teachers was Max Abrams.

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• ME

  @MereMortal2026 · 3 months ago

  Stewart Copeland was not self-taught, he has spoken several times about the mind bending lessons he had in the 70s in London with Max Abrams. He said Max taught him such complex stuff that he always retained some of it during all his Police years and was grateful for it.

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• CH

  @chordpop · 3 months ago

  Love it. Great video, man! Excited to see part 2. Love the way you uniquely dig into stuff.

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• DA

  @DashRiprock513 · 3 months ago

  I heard about this, glad you&apos;re giving me some further insight. &nbsp;thank you

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• IO

  @iopsyc15 · 3 months ago

  I’d say the family tragedies Neil faced affected him more than reinventing his approach. Also getting older.

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• G.

  @g.belanger · 3 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL6QEuwBoFE&amp;t=2960">49:20</a> Exactly! I noticed that too. &nbsp;In the later videos (Rio etc) he seems to hit the snare with his whole body as if he had to hit it as hard as physically possible. &nbsp;Stiff as a board. &nbsp;You don’t see that in his earlier videos like Exit Stage Left. &nbsp;I don’t know if it’s Grubber, or if he was struggling to hit with same power he used to do with more ease in his youth, but I agree he seems to hit through the drum more as he got older as opposed to more efficiently, i.e. with better technique.

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