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Neil Peart on Drum Solos in March, April, 2014 issues of Rhythm magazine

Mon, Apr 14, 2014@7:14PM | comments

UPDATE - 4/15@9:23AM: John has also transcribed part 1 of the article and made it available online here.

UPDATE - 4/15@8:23AM: It turns out that there was also a part 1 to this article that was published in the March, 2014 issue. In that portion of the article Neil breaks down the 2 mini-solos he played on the Clockwork Angels Tour during Where's My Thing? and Headlong Flight.

Rhythm April 2014As a follow-up to their December, 2013 special edition focusing on the drum solo, the April, 2014 issue of Rhythm magazine features an article written by Neil Peart titled Neil Peart on Drum Solos. John over at Cygnus-X1.net has transcribed the entire article and made it available online here. Neil breaks down his drum solo arrangement that he delivered on the night the Clockwork Angels Tour video was filmed, and also shares his thoughts regarding the future of drum solos:

... these days [the drum solo] is absent from the 'mainstream' of popular music, but I would venture that has been so since the dawn of recorded music. Jazz has always embraced self-expression, freedom, and virtuosity, and that has not changed. Some rock musicians have also aspired to those values, but in the final analysis, it is up to the audience.

The popularity of more adventurous music ebbs and flows, but does seem to endure. Perhaps in these times even the word 'progressive' has evolved from admired, to despised, to mildly respected.

Certainly it has always been true that drum solos are more exciting in concert than on record. Again, drummers have a visual thing going on - what is nowadays called 'optics'. If it is left up to the audience, I believe drum solos will endure. ...

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