developing a solo

[zambizzi]

I'm sure this has been asked a dozen times so forgive me if I'm being redundant.

I'm an intermediate drummer...I can play some good grooves...my fills aren't half bad...and my time is good. I'd like to develop a solo but am not sure where to begin. I'd like to be able to do it completely improvisational but I'm just not that good yet. I've gotten as far as just combing some licks I've learned or taught myself but it's just not progressing...maybe I"m not trying hard enough.

What does a drummer think about when developing a solo...what are some good reference points. I practice rudiments on the kit daily...and on the pad just about every night....but a solo can't just be a bunch of rudiments piled together, can it? Do most drummers (outside of jazz) improvise their solos or is it rehearsed?

I play mostly rock but enjoy jazz, blues, funk, r&b, etc. as well.

I suppose I'm seeking a nudge in the right direction when thinking of how to form a solo of my own.

Thanks all!

[lstardrums]

the way i see it, there are two kinds of drum solos. groove-based and technical. making a groove-based solo is pretty simple; first come up with a beat you like. once you have it, create melodies between your snare and bass. once you have that down just start adding things like small fills, big fills, ghost notes, crashes, splashes, high hat splashes, mix meters, change up your ride pattern, play your ride pattern on a tom/crash/cowbell, switch to cross-sticking, or whatever else you feel like. just dont stray too far from the groove.

one of the the easiest and most fun groove-based solos is the tribal style solo, where you keep constant quarter or 8th notes on the bass and just play around that. heres a video of shannon larkin and sully erna soloing around the tribal beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfCsUACK0I

the technique-based solo is pretty self explanatory. technical solos arent best suited for local shows and gigs because the majority of your audience wont be able to understand or appreciate what you are doing. check the tony williams thread, his opening solo is a technical one.

[Wavelength]

...and then there's the melodical, or motivic solo. Come up with a melody or take one from the song you're playing. Keep this melody in your mind while playing it out with the drums. Naturally you cannot play the melody verbatim -- unless you're behind Bozzio's kit -- so you need to figure out how to pronounce the melodic lines on your limited array of sound sources. Start varying the main motif a little -- change the rhythms, pitch and/or timbre. You might want to add a new melody or motif which complements the first one, and work a dialogue between the two. Just listen to some jazz solos, and you'll get the idea.

[somedrummer]

I basically like Bonzo's approach, personally. His seems to be where he has a lot of basic ideas which he goes through in a sequential order, and which he improvises on while playing them. That's the idea I like to use while I'm practicing at home, although it seems that most of the time I'm soloing with a band I end up being almost surprised by my solo, and caught off guard. I'm working on it though.

[bonzolead]

Just remember to give your solos peaks and valleys you don't. want to start super fast crazy at first because your solo will have no place to go.your solos should have character and feeling playing 100 M.P.H. is cool if you know when to play it.Bonzo,Peart,Paice,Bozzio,ETC. never play their solos top speed all the time they have feeling & technical ability incorporated into them.A solo has to have a building point up to a climax.that will keep the crowd more interested also.

Good Luck,
Bonzolead

[Big_Philly]

The fragments from Neil Peart's "anatomy of a drum solo" that are available here on drummerworld can also help a lot in explaining a few concepts. Having the entire DVD probably helps too.

[Casper "DrPowerStroke" Paludan]

...the technique-based solo is pretty self explanatory. technical solos arent best suited for local shows and gigs because the majority of your audience wont be able to understand or appreciate what you are doing. check the tony williams thread, his opening solo is a technical one.

Do you know anyone who would want to listen to a declared "technical" solo? I certainly would excuse myself. In my world there is one kind of drum solo: the musical one. If music isn't in the front seat, I would rather hear the Weather Channel.

One way to make a solo very easily is this: sit down behind the kit and sing some drum licks, just sing something! Then play it. If what you sang was very complex, well, there is the end of your solo! Work backwards and simplify your statement until you have just a couple of notes with lots of space in between. Your solo is going to be the point A (simple statement) to point B (more complex statement).

Another idea is to structure your solo around contrasting grooves. For example, play a latin feel, for 8 bars, then a shuffle feel for 8 bars. Again, start simple, keep alternating, and make the grooves "comment" on each other. There are 100s of ways of doing this....steal ideas from records, and play with them.

I feel that hearing what you play is the only really honest way to play music. If you are not hearing your line, you are shortchanging the listener. It is like saying "I love you" and crossing the fingers behind your back. So for me, playing a solo, or anything else on the drums, is an exercise in detachment from thinking and just sharing what I hear. That's where the excitement is! DPS

Edit: reading istadrums' post again, I think he and I agree, so this is not meant as a polemic!

[samthebeat]

What you need is a large vocabulary of rhythmical ideas and musical/melodic ways to communicate those ideas.

Take a the bonzo RLF pattern for example, play it to death and find out everything you can do with it, the different stickings, playing it in different subdivisions and different orchastrations. You will be suprised by how much you can do with just one idea. The more ideas you have control of the more free you will be. Its about gaining control of them and playing them in the all the ways you can.

For starters forget about speed all together, try and create musical passages that sound good, you can solo at 80 bpm, and not even play a 32nd note at that tempo and amaze people if you have good ideas.

[wy yung]

I suppose I'm seeking a nudge in the right direction when thinking of how to form a solo of my own.

Thanks all!

I think the best thing to do is ask yourself: "What do I want to say?"


We can talk about all the technical aspects of playing until we're blue in the face. Aside from technical matters giving us the facility to play what we desire, what it comes down to is communication. Music is a language.

Simply be yourself. Say what it is you wish to say. Don't talk jibberish. Simply be eloquent and clear and the rest will take care of itself.

Enjoy!

[lstardrums]

Do you know anyone who would want to listen to a declared "technical" solo? I certainly would excuse myself.

thats a great point too. personally, i like watching the DCI snare solos on the vic firth site, but thats watching and listening, not just listening. but i have to say, if i had been in the audience at that tony williams clinic the first 5 minutes would have been boring as hell. brilliant, but boring as hell

[ledzepjb]

Try a Bonham approach but make sure to have your own style,watch the videos in the video collection(Moby Dick)

[jiltednut]

Well, over the past few weeks, I've been trying the same thing, I have no idea what my solos sound like, or how to construct one, but I've approached it like writing a song, and follow a clear structure, don't necessarily define the entire solo, but more so the parts and then play to convey however you feel, or what you are trying to say in that part. Its really difficult for me to do this but it really gets you thinking creatively, and can lead to some interesting ideas.

Just a thought.

[foursticks]

I recommend reading 'Drum Wisdom' by Bob Moses. He has an incredibly musical and interesting approach to drum solos and drumming in general. The book is more reading rather than practising excersizes, but there are still some.

He discusses how to use one idea (which could be a phrase, a certain rhythm, etc.) and expand upon it when soloing instead of just putting aload of random licks together which make no musical sense. He also has a few concepts which help you develope your own ideas to solo around and is very zen about drumming in general, describing it as a physical dance for the arms (and feet I guess).

Check it out, its a fantastic read.