upbeat 3 4 jazz solo

[HeadRush]

today, I am performing with a jazz band from my school and I need to come up with a really good upbeat (about 170 bpm) 3 4 solo. I've been working on it for a little while but I've been having a great deal of trouble on finding a good sound and feel for it. any ideas on what I could do to help me make a good solo?

it would really help me a great deal. thank you

[jcdrum14]

I assume when you say 3 4 you mean 3/4 time, correct? Well, there are some pretty interesting ideas that you can do.. one suggestion is to do a basic 3/4 foot pattern, such as bass drum on 1 and hi-hat with foot on 2 and 3, and you can just comp/groove over that.

As always, throw in some rudiments. Swiss Army Triplets phrased as sixteenth notes are real hip, but 170 might be a little fast for sixteenths so try it as eighth notes...

By the way, how long does your solo have to be?
You can always use that time to develop some ideas and always try humming the head to yourself and just let whatever comes out, come out.

Good luck man

[HeadRush]

thanks
I performed it and I would say it went pretty smothly
I'll put a video up on youtube and send you the link
then maybe you could give me some extra advice o maybe what I should do next time
because I really want to improve.
thank you

[jcdrum14]

Nice! Good that my advice worked for you, I'll be glad to see your video and offer anymore suggestions.

[HeadRush]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR4yzbj0ilQ

alright here's the video

I'm open to any suggestions and I want the critique to be harsh haha

[Drunner]

What about using eight-note Triplets...

First practice with your snare and bass drum <Right-Hand/Left-Hand/Bass-Drum>
until you get it up to 170 bpm. (or little more), then just extend your hands part on
Toms and cymbals as musical as you can, adding also accents and dynamics where
ever you want.

Good luck & have fun!

[HeadRush]

What about using eight-note Triplets...

First practice with your snare and bass drum <Right-Hand/Left-Hand/Bass-Drum>
until you get it up to 170 bpm. (or little more), then just extend your hands part on
Toms and cymbals as musical as you can, adding also accents and dynamics where
ever you want.

Good luck & have fun!

I've been working on those
but I still don't quite have the speed and accuracy for that

[jcdrum14]

Overall, your solo was good.... Since you said your open to more suggestions, i would definitely trying using some dynamics, also..solo doesn't always mean to fill or things like that, feel free to continue the groove but make it interesting, you could try splashing the hi-hat with your foot.

Try asking your band director if he can offer any input, I'm not sure about your director but our jazz band director is a gigging musician and knows what things are supposed to sound like. Good luck.

[HeadRush]

thanks a lot
I will definitely work on that. One thing I really need to work on most for solos is speed and accuracy (most importantly accuracy) but thank you for the suggestions

[King Of Drums]

First of all nice playing bro props on that, especially for your age. I think your solo was good but overall I think it could have been more musical, and it could have swung harder. Things to consider: You could have made it more interesting by playing more diverse rhytmic figures, you could have moved around the drumset a little more, brought in some more dynamics a bunch of other things. But good job you kept good time, the crowd liked it, keep doing what your doing man, jazz is a life long study like Buddy Rich said.

[henno]

[QUOTE=HeadRush;548057]today, any ideas on what I could do to help me make a good solo?

Saw the vid, really enjoyed it. The solo was very good, confidence goes a long way to a good anything. Having trouble building on your drum skills can be confidence. You are out there doing it.....great scary, brilliant rush feeling... Be confident in what you are doing at the moment and it will become more of what you are looking for. Try something like // Triplet snare L r L or R l R followed by single snare hits this is a platform to build on, move on to r l r l r, or l r l r l, make them as fast as possible... followed by 16's accented anywhere on the kit. With practice these become good grooves to build on. Filling with a phrase snare/crash simultaneously is also a good groove. Try hitting L TOM , R FLOOR then use the phrase.slowly at first, with practice, then bring it up to tempo adding something on the bass drum.good luck...enjoy.

[henno]

[QUOTE=HeadRush;548057]today, any ideas on what I could do to help me make a good solo?

Saw the vid, really enjoyed it. The solo was very good, confidence goes a long way to a good anything. Having trouble building on your drum skills can be confidence. You are out there doing it.....great scary, brilliant rush feeling... Be confident in what you are doing at the moment and it will become more of what you are looking for. Try something like // Triplet snare L r L or R l R followed by single snare hits this is a platform to build on, move on to r l r l r, or l r l r l, make them as fast as possible... followed by 16's accented anywhere on the kit. With practice these become good grooves to build on. Filling with a phrase snare/crash simultaneously is also a good groove. Try hitting L TOM , R FLOOR then use the phrase.slowly at first, with practice, then bring it up to tempo adding something on the bass drum.good luck...enjoy.

[HeadRush]

thanks
it was a pretty big crowd too (biggest show I've played with any group) I was quite nervous but didn't start shaking till about 40 measures after my solo haha

[Funky Crêpe]

nice playing man!......also nice time keeping!....lets get to the critisism! ( i asume you want some?) it was a great performance.....i always want to see how i can improve..
it was a nice solo....but i didnt really swing 0......try and jazz it up...it sounded like a rock beat
i know jazz it up is a vague term but.....have a look at flamming around the kit and mabye keeping a ride cymbal beat on the 3rd beat or something and work around that

very nice stuff!

[Chris LIS]

the solo part was pretty good! but i would suggest you listen to some jazz bands and drummers so you know what jazz drumming sounds like, so you can expand off of that. generally in jazz the bass drum is "felt" rather than heard so clearly. and someone said your beat was more towards a rock beat, and i agree! make it swing!

cool video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YexaQsaCrU

[HeadRush]

yeah I agree that I didn't swing it really
but I really haven't been exposed to much jazz except recently

are there any drummers you might recommend me checking out?

[gusty]

yeah I agree that I didn't swing it really
but I really haven't been exposed to much jazz except recently

are there any drummers you might recommend me checking out?

check out the drummerworld pages of the jazz drummers

for example...art blakey, elvin jones, joe morello, buddy rich, jimmy cobb, peter erskine, etc. there are loads more. tony williams, how could i forget.

[Monica McCoy]

I just wanted to congratulate you on a fine performance. The audience really enjoyed it too and that's the important thing. You totally kicked ass! Anyway, keep up the good work.

[Dan Lane]

Definitely check out Max Roach's "The Drum Also Waltzes"!

The original 3/4 drum solo.