Am I the only bass player that hates drum solos?

KeithPas · #1 08-21-2004, 12:19 PM

I play in a band with an excellent drummer. I could not ask for a funkier, more groove oriented player but I hate it when he solos. His idea of a solo is to wail on his drum kit for a bit then play so quietly that no one can hear him, I think he trying do a Tony Williams or a Billy Cobham type thing. When he does this it is usually during a tune that grooves and people practically run off the dance floor, and the whole time I am standing off to the side looking at my feet, praying for it to end soon, but it does'nt. He will make it sound like he is ending the solo then he starts it back up again. If there is one person in a crowd of a couple hundred giving him encouragement he will continue until we give him the "stop wanking or I'll kill you" look. Am I the only person here that HATES drum solos.

BTW. I feel pretty much the same way about any solos on any instruments that I would consider gratuitous.

emor · #2 08-21-2004, 12:23 PM

**Josh Ryan** · #3 08-21-2004, 12:28 PM

I hate random bad solo's, which is what your drummer is doing. I like good, well placed appropriate drum solos.

KeithPas · #4 08-21-2004, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blisshead

I hate random bad solo's, which is what your drummer is doing. I like good, well placed appropriate drum solos.

I agree, short and sweet and to the point is great. Meadering all over the place out of the groove is bad.

**Adam Barkley** · #5 08-21-2004, 12:39 PM

I prefer long, interesting fills over five minute long solos. I like the solos in Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer, Frankenstein*, etc. I think effects and having a larger kit and knowing how to use it help alot also. After a while it all sounds the same to me, but put a little flange on the drums and mix up the tempos, time sigs, and feel; and I would probably stay interested.

*Except when I saw Edgar Winter live, and his drummer soloed for about ten minutes before going back to the main riff in Frakenstein.

JPJ · #6 08-21-2004, 03:08 PM

Bonham's "Pat's Delight/Moby Dick/Over the Top" pieces are the only one's that I've ever listened to with any interest. Back in my early days when I was drumming more than playing bass, I would put the VCR on "slow" and try to figure out what in the heck he was doing. I didn't stand a chance. When the DVD set came out a year or so ago, I tried the same thing, hoping that the added clarity would shed some light....nope! He's the best ever and will always be the best ever, as far as I'm concerned!

Bad Brains · #7 08-21-2004, 05:12 PM

Good placed drum solos are good. I was quite impressed by Tim alexanders Drum solos at the last couple of Primus tours. He definitly made it fun to watch and listin too.

keb · #8 08-21-2004, 07:34 PM

Maybe a couple of wacky, unaccompanied bars during a song, but that's it. Leave 'em wanting more! Once in a while I'll make an exception for Neil Peart though.

Steph Dawe · #9 08-21-2004, 08:27 PM

I like me a good solo; some of the cats I play with can belt out a good solo (I'm talking about the students, not Patrick) which is cool, surprisingly they usually don't want to solo but they pull it off pretty well. It can't be too long though otherwise it gets repetitive, and it can't be too short otherwise it's not really a solo (it's more of a fill).

A good use of a fill that I've heard is when Pat just kicked the bass drum, and that was it - the beats he didn't play, I guess. That's effective, too.

A good solo I like is on Perpetual Change, on yessongs. Towards the end of the song.

charles21o7 · #10 08-21-2004, 08:32 PM

For me , Bass, Guitar, and Keys solos can go on for ever and id still love em, if they are good. Now drums i can only stand for about 3 min, no more.

Lackey · #11 08-21-2004, 08:43 PM

I find the best drum solos are the ones that go while the band is playing, Moby Dick type stuff is kinda lame IMO. I wouldn't want the band to stop if I was taking a solo, it should be the same for the drummer right?

Steph Dawe · #12 08-21-2004, 09:33 PM

Yeah, but that defeats the purpose of a solo. Solo meaning "on your own", right?

Having said that, I guess you're right - guitars, horns, all other lead parts solo over the backline.

KeithPas · #13 08-21-2004, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charles21o7

For me , Bass, Guitar, and Keys solos can go on for ever and id still love em, if they are good. Now drums i can only stand for about 3 min, no more.

Thats three minutes more than me Chuck.

Seriously, I like a tasteful solo but when you are gigging and playing a tune that people are dancing to is it not inappropriate to start doing some fusion solo that not in the groove?

Jazzin' · #14 08-21-2004, 10:29 PM

the drummer in my band is SOOOOO good, people come to see us just to hear/see his drum solos. but since we are a jazz bigband, we dont have too many of them.

refinedbass · #15 08-21-2004, 10:44 PM

My drummer pretty much makes every song a drum solo with vocals over the top of it. He goes crazy and gets off time all the time and he thinks he is tearin' it up, but I just look at him like "What are you doin' dude??"

So, I don't know what's it's like to play a song that grooves and a drum solo once during the entire set.

Anybody have this kind of problem with their drummer??

Aaron Saunders · #16 08-21-2004, 10:47 PM

Fire him.

Look to my sig. Any solo can get boring. The only "extended" solo I really enjoy is the Hotel California guitar solo, and the solo that Tim did at the T.O. Primus show.

Joey3313 · #17 08-21-2004, 10:58 PM

I'm a drummer and I hate drum solos!
(exception being Bonham, Moon and Elvin Jones, but since they're all dead...).

Well placed and timed solos I tolerate, but something about the concept just rubs me the wrong way.

jenderfazz · #18 08-21-2004, 11:16 PM

Having just seen Neil Peart solo live for several minutes, I must say that it was amazing. Of course he goes crazy, but he keeps it rhythmic and adds a lot of percussion in it. Solos like that should only be tried by really really good drummers, in my opinion. Bonham was great too. But I think technical drum fills and soloes in songs can be very good, just like guitar or bass or anything can do the same. Taste is important, however.

Aaron Saunders · #19 08-21-2004, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenderfazz

adds a lot of percussion in it.

...well, it is a drum solo.

Matt Till · #20 08-22-2004, 12:16 PM

I only like drum solos if the drummer is good/it isn't too long. But I do prefer flashy fills.

An underappreciated awesome fill that is totally in your face is Pick Withers during sultans of swing. He does this ultra cool jazzy fill, it's so great.