More Solo/Practicing/Jamming in prep for the Drum Off

[TheLoneGunman]

Give me all your hate and love people. Comments, suggestions, criticism, I just wanna know what people think. But I will say I already know it ain't good. I've got lot's to learn. But if you'd like one excuse for this just so you have a bit of perspective. I had a surgical operation done this week and this was literally the first time I felt good enough to sit down and play so it had been 4 days since the last time I played and I had no practice during that time. I felt quite noobish, but with that being said enjoy. Stay beautiful DML.

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[SGarrett]

Very nice, bro. Your playing has really come a long way in the last few months.

You started to hit on this near the end, but when you're doing stuff on your toms try to think more in terms of melodies. That'll make those passages stand out a little more instead of sounding "standard".

 

[TheLoneGunman]

Thanks for the love man. What I'm trying to do is bridge the gap between the "gospel chop" style playing that Mike does a lot of teaching on and the Gadd/Purdie style musical drumming that I love so much. One of my problems, during a solo, is that when I get nervous I tend to not think about what I'm doing. I think I'm getting better and can at least get my head into the moment, but what I want is to be able to think about 4 measures ahead of what I'm playing. And that will make my soloing more musical and congruent because right now I'm just kind of playing as hard and fast as I can without much thought, and I'm trying to get more thoughtful. yeah. But during that video I was just happy to be able to play. I spent two and half days just sitting on my couch watching the Olympics. My feet felt really weak during this vid. Hopefully I'll be back to 100% in the next couple of day, cause I got gigs this weekend, lol.

 

[stump]

Good stuff Bro! See that you like the triplet fill alot. I think if you expand abit rudimentery wise you will open a new door with endless possibilities. P.O.Y!

 

[Asdex]

Nice job! Anyways, how long have you been practicing this? How many hours per day? Should your solo only be around 3 minutes long??

 

[MasterShake89]

nice. good phrasing, i liked how you brought it away from those more "standard" type beats by throwing in some tom work. only thing i could say to bring it up to a more professional sounding solo is, loosen up a bit, and use more dynamics. but seriously. good stuff, and good luck at the drum off.

 

[SGarrett]

Thanks for the love man. What I'm trying to do is bridge the gap between the "gospel chop" style playing that Mike does a lot of teaching on and the Gadd/Purdie style musical drumming that I love so much. One of my problems, during a solo, is that when I get nervous I tend to not think about what I'm doing. I think I'm getting better and can at least get my head into the moment, but what I want is to be able to think about 4 measures ahead of what I'm playing. And that will make my soloing more musical and congruent because right now I'm just kind of playing as hard and fast as I can without much thought, and I'm trying to get more thoughtful. yeah. But during that video I was just happy to be able to play. I spent two and half days just sitting on my couch watching the Olympics. My feet felt really weak during this vid. Hopefully I'll be back to 100% in the next couple of day, cause I got gigs this weekend, lol.

Indeed. Gotta give credit where it's due.

I purposely try not to think. Many a killer groove has been killed by a single thought.

One of the things you want to watch out for is sounding too much like your influences. As soon as I get something down, I immediate change something about it so it becomes mine. Take the samba you start out with. Mike's used that in a few lessons and it's likely to have been heard by a few people. So what can you do to make it different? Play a melody on the toms instead of just playing on the floor tom. Maybe something like...

R = Ride
1 = First rack tom, and so on
- = 16th note rest

R11- R33- R11- R23- | R11- R33- R12- R23- ||

It's still the exact same "1e&" pattern, but changed enough to spice it up and make it a bit more musical. Do that with the new video lesson Mike posted about Left Hand Speed and throw some spice on the snare with a few bombs on the kick and you'll have something all of your own.

 

[titaniumSS]

Seems pretty well laid out. Good luck at the drum off. And KC ftw :mrgreen:

 

[TheYardstick]

Gar you stole my style >:U

Honestly, I heard so much of what I've been playing recently, particularly this past week that I'm positively frightened by the coincidence.