Drum solos

[Callum]

Hey all... I haven't been around for ages... school, without really seeming to... is throwing up more and more work... sneaky buggers

SO, like the sly, manipulative person I am... I'm going to come back, demand help, look only at this thread, and then vanish again

Well... hopefully not, but it could work out that way... :S

But I'll do it with love in my heart. And I'll be extremely grateful [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway, the situation is thus: my friend and I are performing at the school graduation dinner, performing a drum duet. We are playing four bars of a rhythm, then one of us does a four-bar solo... then four more bars of rhythm, then the other one solos.

Lather rinse repeat.

I'm figuring we're going to need about 10 such solos each... and I only have ab out five. SOOO... I was hoping that other drummers here could suggest some good solos... suitably impressive, but nothing crazily difficult... no double pedalling for example.

Anyone who is not a drummer is also welcome to help... if they mention a solo in a particular song that they think sounds cool...

In case anyone is interested... the tab for the rhythm is below...

code:

---

HH|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|

S |----x-------x---|----x-------x---|----x-------x---|----x-------x---|

B |x--x--x---------|x--x--x---------|x--x--x---------|x--x--x---------|

[/QUOTE]

[Charlie]

I particularly liked the solo drum section in the extended version of Phil Collins "In the air tonight"....brilliant!

Dunno if that helps at all.

[Bungleau]

Trading fours is a staple of jazz fun. You'll have a blast!

It's good that you're trying to construct them now. What you'll want to do is build them in complexity. I mean, it does no good to do a massive triplet-based syncopated fill and follow that with straight 16ths going down the toms [img]smile.gif[/img]

You want it to sound like a drum battle. There are recordings of some epic ones -- Gene Krupa vs. Buddy Rich comes to mind. Granted, you won't play like that (most likely ), but you can see how it's constructed.

You can also look at Under a Raging Moon (a Who tribute to Keith Moon, on a later album, that features about ten drummers trading fours) and Burning for Buddy, a compilation that Neil Peart put together in honor of Buddy Rich. Lots of good soloing in there.

So what you're really looking for are four-bar fills. Here are a couple of thoughts of one-bar fills that can be expanded:

1. Straight 16ths down the toms (and then back up)
2. Straight 16ths with occasional snare hits (say, every third note -- try it)
3. Syncopated 16ths -- rest every third stroke (1-e ah-2 &-ah e-& 4 &)
4. Bass drum triplets (with increasing snare hits as you get to the end)
5. Basic rudiments on the snare with accents on the toms
6. Paradiddle play -- paradiddles with accents on different drums. Start on the snare and expand from there.
7. Cymbal play -- a certain Led Zeppelin song comes to mind, but the name escapes me.

Bottom line: Have fun, and let the music in you come out

[philip]

Well I'm no drummer so these might be too hard but some slower variation is cool too.

At the end of After Forever's Glorifying Means (it starts around 4:40) is a cool solo. There's some double bass in it but I think it's cool without them too. Well I can't really explain it but the drummer plays goes from high sounding (snare) to lowest (bass) rolls and snare-tom-snare-tom-bass. Maybe something like that is cool?

Is it really like showoff solo or sort of a variation on the rhythm too?

Is quick bass a no go at all or just not long rolls (kind of hard with one pedal anyway I'd imagine )? I think pairs of bass are cool too like I don't know how fast this all is going to be but maybe 2x16th or as fast as the HH (8th that is right)?

Lots of hihats is cool too with some crashes here and there and a faster snare.

As far as you haven't thought of that yet you could also try changing how heavy things sound.

Also fast is not always better. Well I don't know much about drumming but you could try to get some surprises in. Like that people who listen think something is going to end in way x and you do something completely different.

Hope this helps a bit and have fun!

[Callum]

I have not a clue what a paradiddle is... My drum teacher is Malay... and wouldn't probably be able to pronounce that

[Bungleau]

Sorry, Callum. A paradiddle (pronounced PAIR-a-did-uhl) is one of the basic rudiments. It follows the pattern RLRR LRLL -- that's alternating right and left hands. The basic rudiments also cover double and triple paradiddles -- RLRLRR LRLRLL and RLRLRLRR LRLRLRLL.

I use a paradiddle for a favorite one beat fill. It goes something like this:

code:

---

Cr:----L

T1:-L

T2:R

Sn:--RR

KD:x---x

[/QUOTE]Sometimes I switch around the drums, putting the snare first or second. Note that I hit the crash with my left hand, not my right. Paradiddles can do that to you, and if you haven't practiced it before, it can feel a wee bit un-natural. It feels good after a bit, though

You might google a bit for drumming lessons. There are a couple of sites that offer some good basics and understanding. Unfortunately, I've got those bookmarked on another computer.

They don't replace a real teacher, but they can give you some ideas and things to work with. It's all about possibilities...

[Larry_OHF]

I am not much good trying to write out the work, so I will have to just show you what I like to do. When I get my drumset moved back home from where it is being kept right now, (over at the bass-player's home), I'll video record myself jamming it, and post it here.

[JrKASperov]

Go listen to the work of Bill Bruford. He plays solos all the time while backing up the crew.

I recommend Heart of the Sunrise, South Side of the Sky from Yes, and My Heart declares a Holiday from BB's Earthworks for this.

[Callum]

Ah... thanks Bungleau [img]tongue.gif[/img] , never heard of that before but I'll try it next time I'm playing.

And I don;t suppose you could give some example of a bass drum triplet? I'm kinda confused as to how that would take up a whole bar...

Thank you for everyone's song recommendations... Even if the only one I have actually been able to download was the Phil Collins one

[Bungleau]

No worries, mate

A bass drum triplet... well, let's take a step back. A triplet is playing three notes in the space of two. So instead of playing a standard

1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&

for a measure, you play

1-da-dee-2-da-dee-3-da-dee-4-da-dee

instead. Some folks switch the da and dee around, and others drop the dee and call it a da (1-da-da, etc.), but I find da-dee to be easy to say. And easy to remember when you want to syncopate them, but that's anothe topic

Once you've got a triplet on one drum, you can spread them among other drums. For example, you can throw all the das on one tom and the dees on a second, keeping the counts on the snare. Like this:

code:

---

T1 -x---x-x---x

T2 --x-x---x-x-

SD x--x--x--x--

   RLRLRLRLRLRL

[/QUOTE]That may look complicated, but it's really not. Your right hand always hits either the snare or one tom, and your left always hits the snare or the other tom.

A bass drum triplet (hey, this is what you actually asked about [img]smile.gif[/img] ) does the same kind of thing, except that you throw the bass drum in as a third note. For example...

code:

---

T1: -x--x--x--x-

T2: x--x--x--x-- 

BD: --x--x--x--x

    RL RL RL RL 

[/QUOTE]You can throw in snare hits when you feel like. Guns 'n' Roses' Matt Sorum (I think) does this at the end of Paradise City -- an initial snare hit on 1 of the first and second measures, then 1 and 3, and then a final special fill.

I've found that starting a bass drum triplet on beat 1 is kind of tricky. I usually start it on the bass beat just before, which seems to make it flow easier. For example:

code:

---

T1: - | -x--x--x--x-

T2: - | x--x--x--x-- 

BD: x | --x--x--x--x

        RL RL RL RL 

[/QUOTE]Start these slow and then increase speed. They're really cool when you can just slip them in for a quick fill, whether it be one measure, four, or even eight or sixteen. The more measures you do, the more accents and alternate drums you can do with your hands.

BTW, you can probably get some of these songs from your local library or from a record store's discount bin. I'm guessing on the library; while I've been to Malaysia, I've not been to a library there. But around here, many libraries offer or rent CDs.