The drums are often thought of as solely a back ground instrument in rock and pop music. How ever the five songs I list below have some of the greatest stand out drum solos of all time.
From John Bonham of Led Zeppelin to Neil Pear of Rush, these drummers know how to make the most of their instrument and have brought the drums from a background instrument sitting behind the other musicians on stage to the fore front where they should be.
Moby Dick ? Led Zeppelin - John Bohnam
If you're a drummer and you haven't heard this outstanding drum solo by John Bonham go do it right now. Stop what you're doing and head over to YouTube and find a clip. There are different live versions of this solo lasting any where from a couple of minutes literally up to 10 minutes. It's absolutely amazing what he can do on the drums, actually dropping his sticks and using his bare hands at a certain point in some live performances.
Hot for Teacher - Van Halen - Alex Van Halen
From the very start of this song as Alex Van Halen is rolling away on the toms to when the guitar begins at about 30 seconds in the drums drive this song all the way through. It's fast, it's rhythmic, it's awesome. This has been a drum solo that many drummers have learned to play and pride themselves on showing it off to their friends.
YYZ (Live) - Rush - Neil Pear
This song is a drumming adventure. Neil Pear plays an amazing beat all the way through the song but his solo during live performances of this song was outstanding. Versions of this solo live could last two to six minutes depending on the performance starting with a rumble on the toms and working it's way into a snare and kick drum frenzy.
Wipe Out - The Ventures - Mel Taylor
This is classic instrumental song was covered by The Ventures, an instrumental surf band in 1965 on their live album. This song is quite literally a drum solo all the way through since the drums play such a huge part of tune. What's even more amazing about the drum solos in this song is size of the drum kit being used. In comparison to what some of the later rock drummers had to work with Mel Taylor had a very small drum kit to work with to make all that noise.
Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin - John Bonham
We have John Bonham again on this list, this time in the classic blues rock tune Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin. John was one of the most prolific drummers of the rock and blues genre and this solo is just another testament to his skill on the instrument.
Would you like to play the drums as well as some of these rock and roll drummers? You can with practice and the right instruction. Get a head start now learning to play the drums from home using a self study course like those found here
