How To Perform A Drum Solo

Hi! I’m Jared Falk and welcome to the drum solo section of freedrumlessons.com. Here, you’ll get a chance to learn about drum set soloing and watch other drummers perform simple solos that you can study for ideas and inspiration.

You might be wondering, how do I play a drum solo? What kind of thing should I play? Well, I hope to answer those questions for you now, so you can watch and study other solos with an idea of what to look for. Once you understand the basics, you’ll begin to see how more solos follow simple guidelines.

Now, it’s not all about the structure, as you want to leave room for creativity and showmanship. But, I believe both of those things can fit within this basic guidelines.

So guideline number one is to tell a story. In other words, you want to start out fairly simple and build to a big finish. When you read a good book, they never put the best material in the first chapter nor do they put it in the middle. A good book like a good drum solo saves the best for last.

Guideline number two, be creative and mix things up. If the entire solo is stale and predictable, nobody will look forward to the big ending. The middle of the solo shouldn’t be boring. Sure, this might leave your best stuff for the end, but you’ll the audience attention before even get there.

Guideline number three, keep it musical and fun. That’s the whole reason we play drums. So, don’t just play random patterns that show off technical ability. Sometimes cutting to a simple rock group gets the crowd excited. Watch them in live solos and you’ll see what I mean. It’s not always about technical ability.

So let’s review. You want to tell a story that’s start simple and ends big. The story should have some twist that makes it interesting along the way. And the most important of all, you want to keep things musical, fun, and entertainment. Don’t take yourself too seriously. So with that in mind, check what’s in the solos in this section of freedrumlessons.com and then play around to some of these ideas on your own kit.


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