Intro to The Drum Solo

Technically, a solo is defined as a piece of music played by a single player. Whether this played on its own or within a break from a full band’s song, it’s considered a solo. However, even though a single artist is performing during a solo, the artist can still be backed by multiple other artists (which is most common in jazz solos).

The great part about solos is that they are ridiculously unique. Nothing about a song is more diverse than the solo. I don’t mean only the differences between genres of solos, nor solos performed by different instruments, though they differ nearly as much as anything else would. Solos performed on one instrument are unique within themselves. The main reason behind this is “improvisation”, which was discussed in my latest blog. When an artist improvises, they invent whatever they are playing right on the spot by combining past experience with creative ideas in the present. This in itself makes every solo impossible to be the same as another one. Specifically (for the purpose of this post), I’ll be introducing the drum solo.

A drum solo is most commonly recognized as a break in the middle of the song where the drummer starts showing off his skills. Though this is somewhat true, this isn’t the entire truth. A drum solo is just like any other solo on any other instrument, but it’s usually found as something entirely separated from the played song. This is simply because drum solos don’t work well with instrument backbeats in most genres. Though, it can be easily argued and proved that there are cases that drum solos work amazingly well with a bassist holding the backbeat or with a full rhythm section and brass line playing along with their chord progressions. There are even cases which drum solos occur during the melody and “head” of the song being played (where the rest of the entire band is playing the most recognizable part of the song).

A rock drum solo will almost always consist of the band dropping out and “featuring” the drummer, as if blatantly showing off his abilities, rather than fitting in a solo that keeps the entire feel of the song together. I don’t mean to bash rock solos, I actually love and respect them as much as any other one, but I just mean to display the difference between a rock solo and a jazz solo. Another distinct feature of a rock solo is that they are usually developed and composed before recording or performing the song. The drummer will sit and practice different beats that would normally be impossible to invent on the spot. This creates a more impressive display of the drummer’s talent. It also proves how much time the drummer puts into his work.

A jazz solo will almost always focus on the beat and rhythm given by the song. When the drum solo starts, you are still able to feel the song is still going, rather than sitting there asking “so, does that mean the song is done?” Jazz solos are also frequently based on improvisation (like any other jazz solo on another instrument). The most impressive factor of a jazz solo is the ability to invent rhythms in fractions of a second.

I would normally go on to describe what a drum solo consists of and the structure that builds it, but that would be impossible. Every solo is different. That’s the simplest way of putting it.

Here’s a video of three of the greatest drummers of all time playing a collaborative solo. It’s rare to find more than one drummer playing together, probably because it’s incredibly difficult and frustrating to arrange it, but in this case there are three drummers playing side by side. Notice the structure of the solo. Dave Weckl starts out with his own solo, then Vinny Colaiuta plays, followed by a solo by Steve Gadd. After Gadd plays, all three of them start playing a simple beat that combines to form a great groove. Over this groove, each of them take turns soloing. Also notice how each of the drummers are different from each other. This might not be easy to distinguish, but Dave Weckl and Vinny Colaiuta play with very different styles. Here is one of the best collaborative solos of all time: