Drummer: joey jordison, slipknot
Bassist: Tim Commerford, rage against the machine

I play drums too and tend to notice drums first when listening to a rock band. Probably my two favorite non guitar playing musicians are drummers: Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Stewart Copeland of the Police. Two different and very musical drummers that fill their rolls perfectly.

I also have *huge* love and respect for John Cale. Outside of his work on the first two Velvet Underground albums, his orchestration on the early Nico records is something I envy. In college I had to wrote some basic string quartet pieces for a theory class and found his work to be a great reference.

i would have to say queen in general!!!

i know your all thinking god not ANOTHER queen fan, but i managed to get my hands on a raw unmixed track of bohemian rhapsody, and its really really complex, not just the song but the whole recording process that was genius, theres something like 36 harmonies per singer and they were all quadrupled up using the technique of getting the singer to sing the same thing the exact same way so that it sounds powerful and you get a nice big sound, they did that 4 times per singer per track, so thats a total of something like 400 and something vocals, and in those days everything being analogue, they could only get a maximum of 32 tracks, there was no bigger mixing desk at the time, so the had to cram everything into those tracks, and also each instrument didnt have its own channel, so a guitar could be playing on 1 track and then suddenly it was on another, and this happened with every instrument other then the drums, you can just see how much work and effort went into creating just this one song, and each of their songs has massive harmonies............what a band is all i can say!!!!

fav drummers-frank beard, john bohnam, tommy lee (i know, i know, but he was/is a quality drummer) and chris slade.
i enjoy listening to jerry lee lewis and billy powell on piano.

im also impressed with the guys who can play multiple instruments including but not limited to the guitar. a few who come to mind are hank williams jr, ricky skaggs, prince, and charlie daniels.

prince is definitely in a different genre than the others i listed, and he is not a personal fav, but i still have to admit he is talented as a musician.

Charlie Parker on the Alto sax, and Dexter Gordan on the Tenor Sax.

I like Derek Sherinian because he tends to use a lot of top notch guitar players. On his cd "Black Utopia" he has Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Al DiMeola, Steve Lukather, and Billy Sheehan, not to mention the fact that Sherinian is no slouch himself.

Stevie Wonder!!!

Non-guitar playing... Don Butterfield, jazz tuba. He died a couple years ago, but he was the sole reason for me getting into the studio in the 60's. Not a household name but at that time was always in the Playboy Jazz Band when it was selected. Played for Radio City Music Hall, NBC, CBS and MANY side projects with different bands and groups. The one thing he did that impressed me for life was one night during a concert he slipped in a song we hadn't practiced. Not a problem really, but the poor 8th grade girl sitting next to me, (I was a freshman in HS at the time,) was freaked. He passed out Stars & Stripes and she played flute and piccolo. She had never seen the music and for those of you who know there's a very well known piccolo part near the end. When it came time to play the piece, the girl next to me was ready to pass out. Then he announce he was playing the piccolo part on the tuba. Ovtaves lower, of course, but with the same perfect stacatto you'd expect from a piccolo! Trills and all! The band almost stopped playing to hear it. Simply amazing.

Drums - Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, now with Pearl Jam), Danny Carey (Tool), Dave Lombardo (Slayer)
Piano - Elton John, Tori Amos
Vocals - Chris Cornell, Jewel
Bass - Justin Chancellor (Tool)

Amen to Xark and Luke !!!

For lead-lines that 'talk' ... you gotta go to the great jazz horn players. I frequently hear guitarists that are so flippin' fast and their tone is rich -- but they have nothing to say.

Parker, Coltrane, Zoot Sims, -- all have a sound I dream-of emulating as I live-and-learn the guitar. Trouble is ... these guys were amazingly intelligent musically. I am just a dumb slug, hungry to learn how to make a beautiful sound.

EDS -- Stevie plays just about everything BUT guitar I think. His songwriting, his heart, style and passion for love is unequaled. Have you ever heard 'Looking For Another Pure Love' .. with Jeff Beck (Talking Book?) ? Amazing .......

Great Topic Kevin !!

This local drummer , Chad Kent, is, or was the drummer for Atomship. They put out one album, Crash of '47, but the presence he commands when he plays is astounding! His drums are elevated to a 45 degree angle. When he gets to going he is a complete blur. His arms are so fast and his legs, man I can