Drum solos

[John A Swartz]

Carl writes:

> one need not actually be a terribly good bass player to be a bass
player in a rock band

As a terrible bass player, Carl, I resemble that remark!  :-)

>But when one _does_ have a good bass player ...
ah! a bass solo, by the very depth of tone from the instrument, can be
a powerful thing!

Agreed - nothing sounds like good bass (and nothing feels like it either).


My feeling on solos is that they are often too long - however, in a
live atmosphere, this can be tolerated more as the audience is more
caught up in the whole experience.  But, when that same solo is listened
to on your stereo, you probably want to hit the "fast forward".  I
also like solos that work in the context of a song.  Al Bouchard's solo
with the Brain Surgeons (good description in your earlier post Carl, BTW)
during "I Play the Drums" works off the rhythm of the song before
taking off in other directions - this makes the solo more musically
appealing, IMHO -- makes it part of the song, and not just some thing
that was stuck in there.  On the flipside, Joe Bouchard's bass solo in
the Live '76 video is not that - but it still works because it's not stuck
in as part of a song at all -- it's almost a completely seperate musical
piece by itself (and a good one at that).  Now, if he had stuck that same
solo in the middle of some song, it would've sounded completely out of
place.

John