Somebody recently emailed me with the question, How do you develop your style on the drums? This is an excellent question, and replying to his message made me think a lot about this topic.

Many of us have had questions like:

• How can I find my personal style or voice on the drums?
• Should I intentionally try to create a style?
• How do I become truly creative enough to really have a style?
• Does your technical ability influence your style?
• Is this even important to begin with?

I hope to answer some of these questions today, because I believe every great musician has some sort of style. Maybe it’s a certain feel they have where you always know it’s them when they’re playing. Maybe a drummer has certain licks he likes to play. Maybe he has a sort of “signature” groove you always hear from him. I think we can all agree that the best players out there have unique styles. You hear Bonham, you know it’s Bonham. You hear Ringo, you know it’s...