Kosuke Tucker

Papa Jo Jones C Jam Blues Drum Solo 1957 1

This is my first time transcribing the great Papa Jo Jones. The performance is from The Nat King Cole Show that was broadcasted October 15, 1957. I've seen someone's video with transcribed sheet when I started to study. On that transcription, I've found a lot of parts that were different from what was actually played. So I decided to fix it by myself.

Here is the first half of the solo. I...

"Brainwashed" Buddy Rich Drum Solo 1959

I was really going to only transcribe the splash phrase at first but I realised I've transcribed too far so I'm posting this for this month. It's very fast tune, so it really helps me to learn how Buddy builds his phrases up on super fast song.

The dot above the ride cymbal note means playing the cup, and the dot below means mute.

Due to its fast tempo, 16th feel phrases are al...

Buddy Rich's Donna Lee Drum Solo

This is the transcription i made long time ago on my notebook and recently I made it into PDF.

This Donna Lee is from 1974 album. (the small group one with Kenny Barron)

The tempo is very fast and even gets faster around the drum solo. Every 4 bar is iconic and has Buddy Rich phrases. It's one of the best solo to showcase the representative Buddy Rich lick in one song. He tends to ...

Please Don't Talk About Me (Sound of '66) Buddy Rich Drum Solo

This whole album is one of my favourite of all Buddy Rich's works. There we can enjoy listening his powerful swing, dynamics, and exploding techniques. Everything.

Anyway, this song is especially my favourite. Listening his playing since he was with Harry James, he tended to play double time feel drum solo on the middle tempo swing tune. And this song is the typical one to see it.

T...

Paul's Tune Drum Solo (Album ver.)

This may be the first funk type drum solo of Buddy Rich I share with you here. This "Paul's Tune" is pretty rare chart that only 3 takes can be found on the internet and only two of them have drum solo. Please tell me if you know more takes other than the one from the album and the 2 live records of '71.

Beside the incredible performance on the rhythm patterns and the interplay during thi...

"Ruth" Buddy Rich Drum Solo from Ed Sullivan Show 1970 Part I

I had a request of transcribing Ruth so I start with this one. This is the only take with live footage and others are only sound clips.

The video can be watched on this link below.

https://youtu.be/H5a0QSAsWec?si=M2OLcLs5IRI_F6yE

There are 2 parts for the drum solo in this chart. The firs...

Apples (aka Gino) drum part full transcription II (Final)

Especially difficult points: Triplets with double(so fast), kick with left hand stroke(hard to make tight and crisp sound with good timing), pounding on ride cymbal while doing left hand stroke(too fast!).

It is already difficult enough to play this song itself with even the simplest drum solo.

But I have already played two other takes so might be able to play this someday.

U...

9:20 Special Buddy Rich snare solo

This is the one from "This One's for Basie."

This  solo from 9:20 Special is a great solo to start with especially if you are interested in Buddy's drum solo. If you can play this, you can play almost half of Buddy Rich solo. No joke.

This solo basically has everything that Buddy frequently uses for his solo: Triplets, 16th notes, flams, double flams, 5 strokes, triplet with do...

Two O'clock Jump Tokyo 1964 the final

Finally the last parts of this solo were finished transcribing!

At this point, what he is playing is mostly the licks that are frequently used on many other solos since it is the climax of the solo. The phrasing is mostly simple but the hardest part is the speed. It is incredibly fast. Especially the phrase using paradiddle on the snare and both crash cymbals is very difficult to play at ...

"From the Sticks" from Richcraft　Part 2-3

Compared to the previous sheet, there are more phrases with 16th notes especially on the 3rd pages. These phrases give the solo more faster feeling. Note that the most phrases are not just the bunch of single stroke rolls with 16th notes, but they are well balanced with 8th notes or triplets and they are very melodic!

It is very important to know these kind of melodic phrases when you us...

Apples (aka Gino) drum part full transcription I

This is something I was gonna do. I was trying to do this but it took about 2 years to actually start. I had copied some of the phrases some years ago but this is my first time to try to transcribe not only solos but also everything.

This chart, Apples aka Gino is a very good chart to transcribe it all. It is short, has many drum solos, and has a lot of phrase that should be played along....

Two O'clock Jump Tokyo 1964 Part 3

From this part, Buddy goes faster and faster, and on the latter half it gets the fastest tempo on this solo.

It's very fast but also the highlight of the solo. RLRRLLRL is one of the most frequently used sticking and it is played on the high tom and the floor tom. This phrase is especially used when Buddy was with Harry James Band. When this RLRRLLRL thing is played, the solo gets simple...

"From the Sticks" from Richcraft

I think this solo is one of the best demonstration of Buddy's middle tempo swing drum solo.

The use of 16 notes and 5 strokes in the middle of triplets are as usual. It mostly goes LRRL or LLRRL. Flam and double in the middle of a triplet are played pretty often too. This is especially used on his solo during 50s.

The first part is mainly triplets but 16 notes will be played mainly...

Now's the Time Trade Fours Solo

I actually played it. Sticking order is only can be seen on the Patreon post here.

以前上げたNow's the Timeのソロを実際に演奏してみました。

https://www.patreon...

Buddy Rich Left Hand Comping (Love For Sale Part1)

Let's take a look at Love For Sale's drum part I wrote and study what Buddy is doing on his left hand. On this sheet, I omitted the obvious Ring-dinga-ding on the right hand and boom-boom on the foot. This time it's until the alto solo.

All you see is what the left hand is doing on the chart. However, I added the stickings for the phrases that he plays with both hands.

This sheet w...

Gene Krupa "Body and Soul" Drum Solo from Live 1952

Body and Soul was played by Gene Krupa Trio which starts as ballad but it gets faster in the middle. Gene uses brush all the way through to the drum solo.

The first 4 bars are supposed to be additional bars for the previous chorus of piano solo, and the actual chorus seems to be starting from the 2nd rows. It makes perfect melody for 16 bars, and another 16 bars which makes 32 bars chorus...

West Side Story "Impossible Solo" Transcription THE FINAL

It's April. April Fools. People are bullshitting everywhere but this is real deal.

Finally, one of my project has come to the end. This is the final part of the solo. THE SINGLE STROKES. There could be one or two missing notes in the single stroke part but, you know it's no big deal right?

From this section, Buddy is really struggling with the heart attack so the single stroke roll ...

Two O'Clock Jump 1964 (Tokyo) Drum Solo Part 2

The tempo on this solo changes several times. That 6 strokes and 16 notes with triplets are especially the hard part to play. Also there are many short buzz rolls that needs to be played clearly. But still, this part is not yet the hardest part.

Thank you for reading and as always, keep swingin'!

Sunday Morning Drum Solo 1964

It's from that album from the performance in Chicago 1964. This was the only take that had Buddy's drum solo as far as I know.

I want to transcribe the whole song for someday but now, here's the short drum solo.

It's short, but there are many phrases that are good for practicing. Especially the part where he goes 3/4 to 5/4 is one of the most iconic phrasing that Buddy does often. 2024-03-07 20:08:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Two O'Clock Jump 1964 (Tokyo) Drum Solo

This is the start of kind of a big project. The drum solo of Two O'Clock Jump from the concert in Tokyo 1964 is one of the most famous Buddy Rich solo that you can find on Youtube.

The first part is kinda easy, but the sticking order is a bit complicated on some parts. The tempo isn't that fast but he constantly uses 16th notes and 5 strokes that makes it much more difficult. 

...

West Side Story "Impossible Solo" Transcription No. 6

This is the fastest part I guess. Those snare and bass drum combination is probably the hardest one to play. The last bar is where Buddy gets heart attack, maybe some of you already know.

The phrases that I didn't write the sticking order are basically RLRL. 

Thank you again for reading and as always, keep swingin'!

Buddy Rich's Drum Solo on Two O'Clock Jump 1965

The take is from the TV show of Harry James big band performance that was broadcasted in 1965. It can be found on Youtube and man that Buddy's solo at last was like an hurricane.

There are tons of rudiments that Buddy frequently uses and faster than most other takes. Looking at the sheets makes me think it's pretty simple snare solo but notice that the BPM is over 400! I made it 400 on pu...

Richcraft Drum Solo

This is something very practical drum solo played by Buddy Rich on the chart "Richcraft."

This chart is middle swing and drum solo will be played with the form that I attached with the sheet and it repeats 8 times. This kind of situation comes many time on the swing big band charts, and knowing how Buddy Rich deals with this kind of form is great opportunity to improve your(our) soloing s...

West Side Story "Impossible Solo" Transcription No. ５

The part where he plays those cymbals. It's hard to imagine how you are supposed to move from the sheet but the sticking order itself is not really special.

The part where he plays triplets with bass drum and tom toms is also difficult. If you cut this part into short phrases, you can notice that there are many of his frequently used phrases. When you find those, it would make it easier t...

Gene Krupa Leave Us Leap Drum Solo 1

The one from the film that ends middle of the last riff. As you know, Gene's drum solo is usually very simple, very easy to understand what he's trying to do. 

Though it's simple, the sticking order is a bit interesting. As you can see on the shee from the 3rd row, he's only playing the quarter notes but it's not played like "R R R R" but goes "R R L R" or something with left hand in...

Buddy Rich Shawnee Drum Solo 1987

Here's the drum solo from Shawnee that I transcribed years ago. I didn't make a proper sheet that time and I've written it and found out there were some notes I didn't notice.

このソロはバディの晩年の演奏の代表的な例で、歌が４〜８小節ごとにしっかり区切られていて、何を演奏しようとしているかがよりわかりやすい構成になっ�...

West Side Story Impossible Solo 4

The last one in 2023! This is the hi hat part! Now you can see what Buddy was doing. The hard part is when you need to play double stroke on the left hand while you are holding the stick as Buddy does. I really don't know how it is called, maybe bottom sticking? Well give me the comment if you know or have any idea of the name of that hihat playing.

Anyway, on this hi hat solo, the most s...

Gerkin For Perkin Drum Solo

Just have noticed how exciting this Max Roach's drum solo in Gerkin for Perkin. Especially the 4 bars phrase from 7th bar is my personal favourite. I might play this sometime.

Time Being Drum Solo

This is the Time Being solo I transcribed about a year ago. It's very fast and played like it is drum n' bass type of drumming. Especially the hard thing is those closed rolls. It's played shortly in fast tempo, but it is pretty clear and loud. So when you play those closed rolls, the arm (the wrist) should move as if you are playing 16th notes.

Anyway, please watch the video of me playin...

Now's the Time with Harry Sweets Edison

One of the most representative trading 4th played by Buddy Rich in the Now's the Time. Buddy generally played pretty soft on this one. Especially 3rd and 5th one are difficult to play softly but clearly.

 Accents are very important, only on the accents can be played loudly but the other notes should be played softly, which makes the dynamics. Buddy's phrases are usually made by the a...