3 Solo Performances

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Solo 1: Adventure of a Lifetime - Coldplay



With my practising I was trying to work on grooves and how make them more interesting with difficult bass drum, fillers on the hi-hat and using the bell as well. I tried to show that I was growing in confidence in this and tried to use a slightly harder groove compared to the original track but making it still sound slick and not over the top.

I really struggled with my timing on this piece, as I came in too slow and behind the song, I managed to alter this when I got into the 1st verse. I think the cover of the song on 'Karaoke Version' was a bit slower and I had been doing most of my practises along to the actual version produced by Coldplay. So transitioning to a version which was slightly slower in tempo really threw me. However what I am pleased about is how I managed to alter this and get back in time with the song, this shows confidence but also that I'm cool under pressure as I didn't make any negative signs to show that I wasn't in time. 

I have learnt that I need to spend more time practising the 'Karaoke Version' before recording as I didn't realise how it would throw me off. Also I didn't give myself enough time to practise and the whole thing was a bit rushed, the same with my other two solos. What I have taken from this is that in order to have a good performance/recording you need to put the time and effort into practising, as if I was able to practise for much longer than I did I would have known the slight alteration in tempo and addressed that in my practise.


Solo 2: Can't Feel My Face - The Weekend



With this song there is a very prominent bass line, I tried to follow this as much as I could to give the song some "earthiness" and to really drive the song on. I feel this worked well as it made the bass and drums come together and unify, which s something which always sounds good as they compliment each other well.

Another aspect to the performance/recording which went well has to be managing all the break downs in the song well, and building up at the right time with the right amount of velocity. I was practising my building in practises so I thought I did this really well. The first build was at the beginning of the song. I really enjoy playing the ride along with the hi-hat with a lighter build as it enhances the build without making it too "in your face". 

I also tried to use the bell in the end chorus to make the last chorus stand out and get it more so that it differentiates from the previous chorus'. 

However I do believe, that with this song I kept it very basic and with more practise I could have felt more comfortable with the song and been able to demonstrate other skills and add more technical fills in. Practise. Practise. Practise. I didn't realise, up until the recording of my 3 performances, how important practising a lot helps with your confidence with the song. For example when you practise well you know what the structure of the song is and what you need to play next, whereas if you don't practise enough you are constantly second guessing what is coming next whilst trying to keep a strong groove going on as well.


Solo 3: Airplanes - B.o.B ft Hayley Williams



This song, asa you can hear, was a much more drum heavy song with lots of double bass in the chorus. This really drives the song on, but also makes the drum part trickier, as the double kicks need to be flush throughout and sound the same, which I found quite hard.

In the chorus I used 16th's on the hi-hat to separate them from the verses, also adding in doubt kicks to break apart the chorus from the verses. I think this went well as it made the chorus very powerful, which in the original, was a key factor to the song, with drums being very heavy, but repetitive.

One thing I need to work on is the flushness of my double bass, and making the second bass kick equal in velocity to the first. I needed to work on this more as it was obvious to hear that my first bass kick, in the double, was much more powerful on most occasions. I can fix this by practising grooves and emphasising the double bass kick.

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