Drum Solos – Constructing a Drum Solo
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As I prepare for a solo performance at the time of filming this lesson, I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to construct a solo and share some tools to make it a more fun experience for you and the listener.
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Hi Louie, I understand the “Tony Williams “, type solo but as more of a rock Drummer you sometimes find yourself in the middle of a song and you find yourself with an unexpected solo. I sometimes start with the snare (John Bonham like). Do you think thats not a good way to start?
It doesn’t really matter about styles. The fact that Tony Williams was a jazz player doesn’t make any difference to the value of the tools he used to keep the listeners attention. But, it is important to listen to players that can give you examples of ways to play things that suit what YOU do. It’s very important to have references in your mind of how something SHOULD sound…or at least the way you like things to sound. Learning music involves a lot of copying; not because you want the end result to be you regurgitating something someone else played, but because you need to do a lot of experimenting and trial & error to work out what you like/how you like to play.
Hi Louie. This seems to loop back to one of your other lessons where you discuss how Vinnie does not consider soloing to be separate from grooving. This lesson seems to expand on the ideas of that earlier lesson. I can understand the importance of keeping the audience clued in by repetition of themes, so that it doesn’t sound like you’re just reading random passages from several different books to tell a story. I think the urge to try and shed comes from wanting to show the audience ‘look what can do!’ . Probably the best solos are a balance between musicality and prowess, but most importantly feel like a song.
Yes, very well put! ‘Reading random passages from several different books’…I’m going to steal that! Perfect analogy. And you’re right about the urge to show-off, or even just show the audience your best, which is understandable. But one can do that by playing musically and inviting the listener in to something that actually makes sense and has some kind of arc to it. And that doesn’t mean it has to be simple, or slow, or boring. Excitement is very important…that can be a moment for insane chops; but you’d be using he insane chops in order to make the audience feel something…tension/excitement, etc….especially if the very loud fast passage was bookended by total silence or a dramatic drop in dynamics (a la Dennis Chambers/Billy Cobham).