20 MODERN SNARE DRUM SOLOS by Daniel Bédard

• Twenty challenging snare drum solos.
• Rudiments
• Polyrhythms
• Odd Times
• Slow and fast tempos
• Includes audio files of all solos
• Includes audio files of drum set application ideas

Daniel Bédard presents a challenging and fun collection of contemporary snare drum solos for all styles of drummers. Prepared under the supervision of late Wizdom Media founder Dom Famularo, the book addresses all the various aspects of musical control for the snare drummer and drum set player.

In these 20 snare drum solos, you’ll find many varied themes, including rudimental playing; triplet-oriented pieces; paradiddle-oriented solos; 3/4, 5/4, and 7/8 time signatures; single-stroke studies; slow and fast solos; roll-oriented solos; rhythmic combinations; solos with rests; and much more. Most of the solos are built around 4- or 8-bar phrases so that you can only focus on a small chunk of information if needed.

 “Many topics are explored, including a more modern use of the rudiments, triplet and paradiddle centered pieces, as well as a variety of meters, rhythms, and tempos. There’s a lot of stuff to explore! Students should have fun mastering the pieces and learning some new skills in the process. I would recommend it without reservation.”

• Gary Chaffee

“Brothers and Sisters of the Drum! If you’d like a challenging, creative view of rudiments, then this book is for you. Here is a great way to work on your technique that offers many musical performance options. The solos are excellent, exploring traditional rudiments, Swiss rudiments, Daniel’s rudiments, various time signatures, dynamics, reading, and more. There’s a lot in here to digest, and it would be a super valuable resource in anyone’s study library. Very well done, Daniel!”

• David Garibaldi

“Daniel’s new book will challenge your eyes, your ears, and your hands. It will stimulate new drumming possibilities on both the snare drum and the drum kit. I highly recommend it.”

• John Riley

 Daniel Bédard is a professional drummer from Montreal, Canada. He spends his time between teaching his many students, playing with various bands, and writing for drum magazines.

 PRACTICE TIPS FROM THE AUTHOR

• When you are working on the ideas found in this book, I would suggest that you first learn the rhythms and the stickings as slowly as needed and then, once you better understand what you’re supposed to play, you can add a click track to see if you can play the idea with steady time. Some of those solos are pretty difficult, so take your time and be patient.

• I would strongly recommend that you record yourself playing the solos to see if you are playing them as clearly as you might think. I find that recording yourself is one of the best ways to make progress with your playing as you really hear what you sound like and can make the right adjustments.

• The tempos suggested on the pages are the ones I was thinking about when playing them, but feel free to play them at a slower tempo if needed (or faster if you want to). For the solos played at slow tempos, feel free to add an eight-note click instead of the quarter-note click that is suggested. This way, the space between the beats will probably feel more comfortable and then you can work your way to a quarter-note pulse afterwards.

• Regarding dynamics, most of the solos have been thought to be played with loud and soft notes. The loud notes can be played with your sticks perpendicular to the floor and the soft notes should be played about 2 inches from the surface. The idea here is to be obvious with which notes are accented and which ones are not. Record yourself and see if you hear the difference in the dynamics. You could also add your own dynamics to the solos. A few of the solos don’t have accents, these are meant to be played at a moderate volume and focus more on the rhythms and rests. Be as precise as you can.

Book  | 96 Pages | Includes Audio