drum solos

drummingman

drummingman

Gold Member
what makes for a great solo? what are the best ways to construct a solo that makes a solo interesting? what is a good form for the parts of a solo? im looking for something that i can write down in terms of a structure. kind of like the way a song is built. like an intro, verse, chorus etc.
also, im not the fastest drummer in the world (im working on it) but i am wanting to develop good solo chops and ideas. not saying that speed makes for a great solo, im just saying that it does not hurt for bringing people to their feet at the climax of a slolo. what can i do to have this big ending to my solo without being lighting fast?
i have never practiced soloing in my 15 years of playing and im not that good at soloing. but im trying to change that.
 
I must admit crazy drum solos bore me to death. I have seen/heard a few solos in the past few months that revolve around a groove and to me, they sound very musical. Bernard Purdie and Benny Grebb are 2 that come to mind. There are plenty more as well.
I don't have really quick hands myself, and not great at solos either, but after hearing the way these guys structure solos, is something I want to work on. Groovy drum solos do it for me.
 
as is my favorite soloists are steve smith and dom famularo. i do like a lot more but these 2 are my current favorites.
 
depends what kind of solo you wanna do, metal solo's are totally differnet to say jazz solo's :)
 
For me one of my requirements for a drum solo is that people must be able to dance to it, otherwise, to me it's not musical, but rather random flowless punctuations. Like listening to a 2 year old bash away, where's the musicality in that? Yes it takes skill to be able to roll around the toms, but if it's not in musical time, to me it means nothing.
 
A good drum solo is like the cleavage of a good prom dress: it's not about how much you show, it's about how much you appear to be hiding. That's how I approach soloing.
 
Well...


"Anatomy of a Drum Solo" is a pretty good start.


;-)


"A Work in Progress" ain't bad either. :)
 
Big_Philly said:
A good drum solo is like the cleavage of a good prom dress: it's not about how much you show, it's about how much you appear to be hiding. That's how I approach soloing.
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haha this is a great quote!!
thank you all for posting. im gonna watch those youtube vids that you all posted.
 
Listen to Art Blakey's solo on "Kozo's Waltz" (A Night in Tunisia) or the opening solo he does for "Moose the Mooche" on Drums Around the Corner. Fantastic stuff.

Current jazz drummer Eric Harland regularly pulls off amazingly musical, fun solos.
 
drummingman said:
haha this is a great quote!!
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SGT_Drummer said:
couldn't have said that better if i tried. dead on!
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Thanks guys :) Good to know my comments are being appreciated.

Late Bloomer said:
I was thinking more along these lines. You would definately be able to continue dancing to this Benny Grebb solo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMJtIWD6FUw
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I find it a little too long, but other than that it's great! He shows you enough to let you know he's a very good drummer with some good chops, but doesn't throw obnoxious drum rolls all over his kit 90% of the time like a lot of people do.
 
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