Andrea
Lars Ulrich is a name all too common in the drumming world. His percussive skills have become something every drummer wants.
His approach to drumming may seem like a national pastime in the world of metal music, but he will go down as one of the most influential players of all time. His beat can be heard all-over some of metal’s greatest hits of all time.
When you talk about the best drummers in the world overall, you will not miss Lars Ulrich‘s name on the top of that list. He has still remained a force to reckon with after all these years with his new approaches and creativity. Most of his work is characterized by new and exciting styles. Those who listen to him never seem to get enough of it and always seem to desire more.
About Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish musician and record producer born on December 26, 1963. He started learning drums at an early age, influenced by some of the top bands of his time. His world fame came to be as a drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica.
It is hard to know exactly what motivated Ulrich to venture into drumming considering that he is the son and grandson of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich. He even played tennis in his youth until he was 16 years old when he moved to Los Angeles. He came to train as a professional tennis player. But instead, he started playing drums.
Such a change of passion is not easy to come by, and many expected that he wouldn’t be very good at drumming. But then, as fate would have it, we talk about Ulrich as one of the best drummers in drumming history.
His grandmother gave him his first drum kit – a Ludwig. Despite being among the top ten tennis players at his age, he failed to secure a spot on the seven-man Corona del Mar High School tennis team. This is possibly one of the reasons he decided to focus on music.
Ulrich met James Hetfield after publishing an ad in “The Recycler” to start the band. Both are excellent songwriters who have left their mark on almost every song from the band. Ulrich was the face of the band during the Napster controversy, and that could have been one of the moments that his career rose to the highest point.
Career
After meeting James Hetfield in 1981, Ulrich continued developing his skills and was later known as the pioneer of thrash drum beats which appeared in most of Metallica’s early work. His work can be heard on pieces like “The Four Horsemen” and “Fight Fire with Fire.”
Ulrich has since remained a key figure in the popularity of his band and playing technique. He adopted a less focused and simplified drumming style.
Unlike most metal drummer of his time, he reduced his kit from a 9-piece to a 7-piece. Even today, he still continues to influence metal drumming.
