Drummers, have u ever listened to a drummer or tried to study certain solo’s he/she may have done but could never quite understand what they are doing?  Well in today’s Blog I will help u train your ear to be able hear, understand, and play that solo that you are trying to learn.

Step1:  Go back to the basics:

            If u cannot figure out what the drummer is doing, always remember that every solo or chop is always a rudiment.  Drums are always based off your simple rudiments.  Most of your solo’s are built from rudiments such as single strokes, double strokes, paradiddles, flam, flam tap, drags, etc.  If you need help with identifying these rudiments you can go to the website and it will help you. http://www.drumrudiments.com/

Step 2:  If you can say it… you can play it.

            Whether if you are watching a video or listening to a cd, you should rewind that solo over and over again until u can visualize yourself playing that solo.  After u have the visualization in your head its best to say the beat aloud.  (Its best to be by yourself so you don’t sound crazy toward other people lol.)  And you want to repeat this process over and over again.  After you have the visualization and you can say the beat, next step is to attempt it.

Step 3: Take it slow!

            Most drummers immediately try to play the solo right away and then it never sounds they way you intend for it to come out.  The best approach is to take the solo very slow.  In order to develop the solo you must start slow in order to develop your accuracy, and once you are comfortable, then you may speed up gradually.  Here is another site to help you as well with this technique. http://www.rockdrummingsystem.com/underground/drum-lessons/building-a-drum-solo.php

Step 4:  Play the solo in time.

            Once you have developed the speed of the solo and you are comfortable with it; your next step is to make sure you can play it in time.  As a drummer you should have a metronome or any type drum machine that has perfect timing to a click track.  Once you set the time you need to perform the solo with the click track over and over again.

Step 5:  Practice with original cd or video

            The last step is to practice with the cd or video that the original drummer played on to make sure you can play it exactly like he/she has played the solo.

            

     Now that you have learned how to learn solos tell me different techniques and individual drummers that you study in order to build your own solo.  Also here is a video of Dave Weckl in his video back to the basics if you want to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogz2TmilOkg