When practicing with the aim of better soloing, one of the most important concepts is figuring out how to connect your ideas.
I’ve come to realize, after a lot of trial and error, that the best thing to do is to focus on things that are comfortable for you to play and then figure out how to connect them seamlessly.You’ll eventually find that some patterns work really well for connecting ideas. For example, I rely on six stroke rolls, paradiddles, paradiddle-diddles and double stroke rolls in order to connect many of my other soloing patterns. One of my favorite patterns is “foot-right-left” (FRL).
This worksheet, “Nasty Lick 74,” should be helpful in understanding where you can go once you decide on some “connectors” and soloing patterns you like. Here, I focus on “FRL” and the six stroke roll as soloing ideas. Meanwhile, the six stroke and some of its variations, like “rll,” “lrr” and “rrlrll” are very useful as “connectors.”
Print out the PDF at the link at the right: Nasty Lick 74 and bring it into the practice room with you.
Note that the double strokes you play will all be ghost notes on the snare. The tom, bass drum and accented snare notes should all be one volume level (significantly louder than the ghost notes) while the double strokes on the snare should be fairly quiet and smooth. When you get this right, and work up some speed (100 to 145), you’ll have some serious combinations you can rely on.
But don’t stop there–make up your own combos based on the licks and patterns that you like and are most comfortable with.
PS – Imagine that you could regularly get these Nasty Licks delivered to your email inbox every time we post one. Great drumming vocabulary to raise your drumming level–free. Go do it–just type your email addy into the form below, and click that button.
He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
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