An "audience friendly" drum solo

Audience friendly? Its one of the most boring and unimaginative drum solos going. The sad thing is, he played that same solo, almost note for note every time he played that song.
 
i guess what makes it "audience friendly" is that it's not too complicated and it's easy to clap your hands to it. audiences definitely like a solo they can clap to or dance to, at least until the end when you bust out the crazy fast stuff.
 
Shorter please. Dynamics please. If you've got one idea I don't need to hear it 30 times at the samve volume. That kind of solo is what makes people trash drum solos as part of the show.
 
Drum solos that stay within the structure of the song are a really difficult thing to pull off in my book. I've made the decision to avoid that trap finally. I think it's so much easier and freeing to solo "out of time". If you make the decision to play your solo in the same tempo and general feel to the song around it, I find that terribly confining. This is what he did. He could have just stopped at some point near the front of it, built up some tension, and then started back up on whatever kind of direction he was best at, but instead he chose to not drop the initial groove that he springboarded from, and sounded chained to it the entire time. I know what that feels like, it sounds like solos I've done in the past, like last week.
 
Shorter please. Dynamics please. If you've got one idea I don't need to hear it 30 times at the samve volume. That kind of solo is what makes people trash drum solos as part of the show.

It was the 70s and it was Rock & Roll... It's not everyone that can throw a solo a la Mody Dick out of his hat. ;-)
 
I thought it was a good solo. the constant bass drum/hat combination was a bit monotonous for me though and mabye it was a little too long too. There were some good ideas in there. There were bits that sounded like Steve Gadd's solo at the end of Steely Dan's 'Aja'.
 
Drum solos can be odd things, like something out of a variety show.

The band is playing music and then suddenly you have this brief circus act, with the drummer performing all these impressive tumbles, rolls, handstands, loop-de-loops. S/he finally comes to the triple turn, double twist flourish before landing (hopefully) balanced right on the beat ... TA-DAA!! ... and then normal transmission resumes. Folks, I hope you enjoyed our resident percussion acrobat ... and now back to the song!

All good fun as long as the solo doesn't drag on too long. This one could have been shorter IMO but the whole song was stretched out, so I guess it fit the theme. The number would have been classier if it was squeezed into 3 or 4 minutes but the Small Faces weren't into "classy". In the early 70s a performance like that would have been a rage for a pub crowd once they'd enjoyed a wee tipple or three.
 
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Dammit Polly there you go again, painting those cyber pictures. That's totally it. A circus act. You have the gift of parallels.
 
Dammit Polly there you go again, painting those cyber pictures. That's totally it. A circus act. You have the gift of parallels.

Larry, I have to agree Polly does have that abilty to bring very fitting word pictures to the thread. I must say, if her solos resemble her writing skills she must be a joy to hear.
 
Yea, where is that chick from anyway? I want to say Eastern Time Zone USA. Cmon Polly spill it.
I love reading her stuff
 
Right, down under. I think I knew that but forgot. So about that drum solo....
 
Too kind, Larry ... and now for a double somersault metaphor with a twisted simile :)

It's ironic that the drum solo is often the only part of a show without a steady rhythm. It would be silly to suggest that drummers always play short solos in time with the song a la Ringo in The End (which I enjoy) but it would be good to see drummers depart from the groove in more creative ways than just breaking off the rhythm entirely and playing chops they don't get much chance to use, or being a bit less oblique in relating their patterns to the song. Kenny's a good RnR drummer, even if the solo was too long IMO. I guess you had to be there.

I did a solo once. Many moons ago a band I was in was playing a party and the power went off. What's a girl to do in a situation like that? There was a bunch of incredibly drunk partygoers wanting to dance. There was a drum kit. And there was a silly stoned drummer just itching to play simplified versions of Osibisa jungle rhythms! The others in the band picked up some of my toys and joined in.

The drunks were stomping to the beat so much the owner of the place had to settle them down because she worried that the balcony would break. Much fun, but in that situation you can't help wondering when/if the power is going to come back on, or if you'll be forced to keep pounding until everyone's over it. Even then, drum solos have a short shelf life. Thankfully the power returned after a few minutes.
 
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I like this solo and agree it is audience friendly because often joe bloggs isn't too interested in whether you can do polyrhythms. I think it works well because it keeps a basic groove and rhythm throughout via the tribal tom beat. Its not just someone going round the kit like a machine gun.
 
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