Poll - Do you like drum solos?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by cgw, Aug 1, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    You needed a 5th category.

    I put yes but the proviso is if it is live and the guy is not a bonehead thrashing away with his ego.
     
    Tristero likes this.
  2. JustVinyl

    JustVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Depends on the drummer ... but also on the duration.

    For example, as much as I like Neil Peart I still would have preferred a much shorter solo.
     
  3. Ricardo Perfecto

    Ricardo Perfecto Forum Resident

    In jazz, yes. Maybe the best overall musical performance I’ve ever seen was Eric Harland with the Charles Lloyd Trio a few years ago, and a couple of years after that with the Lloyd Quartet. Other live drumming highlights include the amazing Marilyn Mazur with Jan Garbarek, Melbourne player Danny Fisher with Joe Chindano, Tony Buck beginning a phenomenal one-chord, one riff hour long set by the Necks with a ten or fifteen minute press roll that was spellbinding, and just a couple of months ago Joey Baron with the Lovano/Douglas quintet. Rock drummers are tougher to sit through although Bruford and Peary keep things interesting. I remember doing a Carmine Appice YouTube crawl a few years back and all the solos were awful l.
     
  4. cosmicdancer

    cosmicdancer Doin' it to you in 3D! So Groovy that I dig me.

    Only thing worse than a drum solo is a bass solo.
     
    CrombyMouse likes this.
  5. Keith Moon's foremost disciple.
     
    mtvgeneration and George P like this.
  6. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    Permanently, but the rest of the band never stopped playing......
     
    CrombyMouse likes this.
  7. tAC0

    tAC0 ...for the record, I’m a vinylist

    ‘Depends...’

    Some great drum solo’s to be found on e.g. Deep Purple’s ‘Made In Japan’ and Led Zep’s live recordings. But the ‘Moby Dick’ solo is way too long, repetitive and therefore even gets boring (I have to mention that I find Bonham one of the best drummers of all time though).

    But if I play Phil’s ‘In The Air Tonight’....

    BABA BABAM BABAM BABAM BAM BAM BAAM! ... I can feeeel it coooomin’ in the aaair tonight... ow Lord...

    I Stil get goosebumps... everytime... (but I bet it doesn’t count as a drum solo).

    Or ‘Funky Drummer’ by James Brown... this dressed up drumsolo by Mr. Funky Drummer himself, Clyde Stubblefield is the blueprint for a lot of early hiphop and sampled to death (by de la soul, public enemy, tuff crew to name a few). Repetitive as hell, but I can listen to Clyde’s solo’s like forever.

    Also love me some Art Blakey... but in most cases a drum solo should not be overdone or stretched out... me thinks.
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2018
    LilacTeardrop likes this.
  8. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    It depends. I’ve heard some good drum solos from the jazz world of course. I love Neil Peart’s solos, at least some performances of “Moby Dick” (the longer ones tend to get tedious), Eric Carr from KISS did some cool solos (particularly after he started using the pads), Bill Bruford did some cool ones with King Crimson.

    As far as Zappa’s guys, I love the one Colaiuta did at the Capitol Theatre (then again he’s a jazz player) and Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing since it’s two drummers who can play off each other.

    For the most part, they’re just there. Definitely don’t let it go over 3-4 minutes as a rule of thumb.
     
  9. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    there are so many great ones...
     
  10. Slice

    Slice Fan Of Rock

    Location:
    Keller, TX
    The best one is Neil Peart of Rush's solo on Exit Stage Left in the middle of YYZ. It's only 3 minutes long & is continually moving. There are many different parts & sounds, so it's awesome. You can see a similar one where he played some of the same things on that tribute to Buddy Rich thing he did on the song, "Cottontail". His solo starts about 3:50.
     
    Zoot Marimba likes this.
  11. LilacTeardrop

    LilacTeardrop "Roll It Over My Soul...and Leave Me Here"

    Location:
    U.S.
    Agree on above :):agree: & how I cast my vote.

    My skilled drummer example & who I could listen to a drum solo for a short while, at least & gladly, since he is so talented!
    I'm sure others' who're big into drums could listen a whole lot longer.
    Providing a link to a live performance intro solo that's excellent from fantastic drummer & just the right amount of time (for me! :):D)
    Reni - The Stone Roses
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2019
  12. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Questions like this are so far from the actual listening experience, but good fun. I love a great drum solo, whether that be an interesting exploration of sound or a hypnotic rhythmic groove workout, but that no way implies that I like drum solos per se. Obviously some drummers would be more to my taste than others, but I've heard drum solos from Max Roach that I like and some that I don't. It doesn't depend on the drummer so much as it depends the music within the drum solo.
     
  13. kdbrink

    kdbrink Forum Resident

    I'm an ex-drummer, and I've always HATED drum solos! Good drummers should be "felt" and not heard.
     
    CrombyMouse likes this.
  14. scoutbb

    scoutbb Senior Member

    Location:
    LA
    Yeah, it's really cool. Notice how he keeps the beat going throughout the whole solo?
     
    Joy-of-radio likes this.
  15. Yawndave

    Yawndave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Clara CA
    I'm not a fan per se, but some songs just wouldn't be the same without a good workout on the skins.

    Joe Carrero's intro to Paul Revere's Time After Time ain't exactly a solo, but I love it.
     
  16. nicotinecaffeine

    nicotinecaffeine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Walton, KY
    Absolutely. Played drums until I'd had an accident with a table saw eight years ago.
     
  17. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Yes-
    Mainly when it's used throughout the whole song :D
     
  18. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Rock music ? No!
     
    All Down The Line likes this.
  19. drum_cas

    drum_cas Forum Resident

    That's what she said......

    Sorry, couldn't resist :hide:
     
    carlwm and Zoot Marimba like this.
  20. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    Don’t really like drum solos themselves but the rush that results when the rest of the band come back in can be amazing.
     
  21. cquiller1

    cquiller1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Occasionally. One of my favorite one was John Bonham's one in Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand."
     
  22. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    *rim shot*
     
    drum_cas and bluejimbop like this.
  23. Vic333

    Vic333 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minnesota
    I consider Moby Dick infinity listenable. The shorter versions of Toad are very good. Most of the drum features from the new Crimson I enjoy. Most jazz drum solos.
    But, yeah, there's not a lot of rock drummers that play interesting solos. A lot of them just don't have the chops and try to just do fast runs, which get old fast.
     
  24. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    Sirius is playing a lot from the new Woodstock box set. The other day they played the hobbit by ten years after which has a drum solo. It was a prime example of why I don't like drum solos. Very generic. It reminded me of the time bill graham got buddy rich to open for them at the fillmore. After his set the drummer for ten years after did not do a solo. Smart move.
     
  25. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    The problem is often that if you're performing in front of thousands of people in a rock context, with the "background" noise level, with the way the sound system has to be set overall for the show, with the acoustics of the venues, people can't really hear anything very subtle that you'd do, and they're not really looking to listen intently like a classical or jazz audience would. So you have to do stuff that's loud, flashy, showy, audience participation-oriented, etc.

    Those circumstances don't lend themselves to very interesting drum solos, but the drum solo gives the rest of the band a chance to take a breather, attend to any needs (like a bathroom break), etc.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine