When I was 12 and played drums, I used to listen to Buddy Rich all the time. His extended solos knocked me out. It was not until I was 16 and started learning to improvise on the saxophone that I realized drummers were supposed to follow the same musical form (12-bar blues, 32-bar AABA) as the other musicians..

When I became a young adult in Philly, and sat in with some GREAT drummers (like Mickey Roker who played with Dizzy for years) did I realize how MUSICAL the greats were. You could hear the A section repeat (with variations) a distinct bridge and recapitulation etc..

Most popular music tends to fall into 12-bar or 32-bar forms (with minor variations.) Count the measures of the other soloists and listen for the changes. Drums should work the same way...


Jan - 12 Core AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
32GB DDR4
Win 10 64-bit
Samsung m.2 SSD Boot drive,other SSD internal and USB drives.
MOTO 2
Ketron SD4,SD1000
Yamaha RX-v381amp
VB-Audio virtual cables