How to Play Jazz Drum Solos and Fills

Learn how to play Jazz drum solos and fills that sound smooth, confident, and totally musical.

SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate - Advanced

Making Solos and Fills Actually Feel Good

II can’t tell you how many times I sat at the kit wondering how to play Jazz drum solos and fills without feeling clumsy. Trading fours, stretching out a chorus solo, even just dropping a clean fill. It all felt harder than it should. So I built these lessons around the exact stuff that finally made solos and fills click for me.

In this course pack, you’re getting two full courses rolled into one. One all about solos, the other all about fills. Plus the Drum Lab where we hang out live every month.

What You’ll Learn

By the time you’ve worked through this pack, you’ll:

 • Feel good taking a solo, whether it’s fours, eights, or a full chorus.
 • Have fills that sound clean and musical, not like an accident.
 • Know how to keep your place in the form so you don’t get lost.
 • Build a little “language” of your own using motives, bebop phrasing, and rudiments.
 • Add some personality to your fills so they really pop.

It’s really about building confidence, not just practicing drum licks in a vacuum.  You'll learn Jazz drum improvisation techniques that you can actually use with other musicians.

Where This Takes You

The goal here isn’t about shredding or trying to impress anyone. It’s about being able to trade fours without getting lost, stretch out a chorus solo that actually feels musical, and drop fills that slide right into the groove.

Ready To Dig In?

If you’ve been itching to figure out how to play Jazz drum solos and fills without second-guessing yourself, this is the spot. These lessons are the same things I worked through to get comfortable trading fours, stretching into solos, and throwing down fills that groove.

Jump in, take it at your own pace, and use the Drum Lab to ask me whatever’s on your mind. The cool part is you’ll actually hear yourself getting smoother and more confident lesson by lesson.

Grab the Jazz Drum Solos and Fills Pack, and let’s get going!

JAZZ DRUM SOLOING COURSE

Solos used to scare me too. In this course, I break down the tools that finally made them feel good about soloing. Things like leaving space, playing with dynamics, throwing in syncopation, messing around with call-and-response and more.

You'll learn how to create endless ideas and trade some fours and eights so you don’t get lost.  Then we'll stretch into longer solos that play like music instead of random drum filler.
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.

JAZZ DRUM FILLS COURSE

Fills don’t have to be awkward. Here I show you the sticking patterns and feels that make fills flow. We’ll play around with one-bar and two-bar ideas, and I’ll give you a bunch of examples you can try right away.

Think of it like building your drum fill vocabulary. You’ll have solid fills in your back pocket, but also the freedom to make up your own when you like.
2 Courses + Drum Lab
30%
discount
$35
savings

JAZZ DRUM SOLOING LESSONS

01 COURSE INTRODUCTION

Learn the purpose of drum soloing
  • INTRODUCTION 02:54

02 DRUM SOLOING TOOLS

Learn 11 tools you can use to make your solos smooth, creative and musical.
  • SPACE 03:12
  • REPETITION 02:28
  • DYNAMICS 02:44
  • ACCENTS 02:49
  • SYNCOPATION 03:00
  • CALL AND RESPONSE 01:58
  • BEBOP FEEL 04:39
  • ARTICULATION 07:46
  • PITCH 06:02
  • CONTRAST 06:29
  • MARKING THE SONG FORM 06:47

03 NEVER GET LOST AGAIN

Learn the musical cues that will help you start and end your solos with confidence.
  • HOW TO NOT GET LOST 24:37

04 BUILD YOUR SOLO VOCABULARY

Learn 9 creative ways to come up with endless drum soloing ideas.
  • BEBOP PHRASING 05:41
  • MOTIVES 14:20
  • RUDIMENTS 11:54
  • GROOVING 07:06
  • THE SONG MELODY 12:15
  • OTHER SONG MELODIES 05:54
  • BORROWING FROM THE SOLOIST 07:09
  • BORROWING FROM THE RHYTHM SECTION 05:21
  • SINGING 09:52
  • FILLING IN BETWEEN THE NOTES 14:46

05 TYPES OF JAZZ DRUM SOLOING

Learn the 5 primary ways we solo on the drums in Jazz music.
  • TRADING FOURS AND EIGHTS 16:37
  • PRACTICING FOURS WITH MOTIVES 14:28
  • TRADING FOURS PRACTICE 10:03 
  • TRADING EIGHTS PRACTICE 09:51
  • FINISHING YOUR 4'S 09:40
  • TRADING FOURS WITH BRUSHES EXAMPLE 01:07
  • TRADING EIGHTS AND FOURS EXAMPLE 03:20
  • CHORUS SOLOS 10:56
  • BUILD A CHORUS SOLO 14:07
  • TRADING FOURS AND CHORUS SOLO EXAMPLE 02:17
  • TRADING EIGHTS AND SIXES EXAMPLE 03:20
  • CHORUS SOLO #2 EXAMPLE 01:06
  • CHORUS SOLO #3 EXAMPLE 01:22
  • CHORUS SOLO #4 EXAMPLE 01:52
  • CHORUS SOLO #5 EXAMPLE 01:07
  • OPEN SOLOS 18:49
  • OPEN SOLO EXAMPLE 03:42
  • OPEN SOLO #2 EXAMPLE 04:51
  • VAMP SOLOS 06:48
  • VAMP SOLO EXAMPLE 01:56
  • ARRANGEMENT SOLOS 05:00
  • ARRANGEMENT SOLO EXAMPLE #1 00:29
  • ARRANGEMENT SOLO EXAMPLE #2 00:59

06 COURSE CONCLUSION

Final thoughts and inspiration for soloing.
  • CONCLUSION 01:26

JAZZ DRUM FILLS LESSONS

01 THE STICKING PATTERNS

Learn the basic sticking patterns for the course.
  • INTRO AND PARADIDDLE STICKING PATTERNS 14:41
  • ROLL STICKING PATTERNS 07:10
  • FLAM STICKING PATTERNS 03:54
  • SINGLE STROKE STICKING PATTERNS 04:39
  • TRIPLET COMBINATION STICKING PATTERNS 04:56
  • ROLLING DRUM FILLS PART 1 - 11:51
  • ROLLING DRUM FILLS PART 2 - 13:51
  • UNISON STICKING PATTERNS 02:17
  • OTHER STICKING PATTERNS 05:22

02 CHANGING THE PATTERNS

Learn to tripletize, straighten and displace the sticking patterns.
  • MODULATING THE STICKINGS 19:24

03 DRUM FILL LENGTHS

This section covers how to play the most-used drum fill lengths in Jazz drumming. 
  • PURPOSE AND LENGTH OF DRUM FILLS 09:32
  • TWO-COUNT DRUM FILLS 15:15
  • ONE-MEASURE DRUM FILLS 17:38
  • TWO-MEASURE DRUM FILLS 14:44
  • TWO-MEASURE DRUM FILL DEMOS 10:53
  • DRUM FILL TRANSITIONS 04:43

04 EXAMPLE DRUM FILLS AND CONNECTING FEELS

Learn 33 drum fills that I play across the drum kit. Also learn to combine tripletized and straightened feels in your drum fills, a bonus sticking pattern and how to play creative drum fills in any style.
  • 33 DRUM FILL EXAMPLES 09:59
  • CONNECTING DRUM FILL FEELS 08:27
  • BONUS DRUM FILL - TAP DRAG TAP 07:21
  • SUPER SWINGING DRUM FILL 10:05 
  • CREATIVE DRUM FILLS 11:18
  • PLAYING FILLS "IN THE POCKET" 04:50

05 COURSE CONCLUSION

Final thoughts and inspiration for drum fills.
  • CONCLUSION 02:34

Jazz Drum Solos and Fills Pack

Jump into Jazz drum solos and fills and start playing stuff that feels smooth, confident, and musical every time you sit at the kit.

The Jazz Drum Solos and Fills Pack

FOCUSED

This course pack saves you time and money by focusing on the most important skills for how to play Jazz drum solos and fills like a pro.

By the end of these online drum lessons, you'll play creative and  musical drum solos and fills. 
  • 9 hours of online drum lessons
  • 49 drum lesson videos with PDF's 
  • 11 drum practice tracks with 6 drum scores
  • 2 Drum solo practice videos
  • 14 video examples from real gigs playing drum solos and drum fills.
  • Drum Lab Monthly Drum Class

AFFORDABLE

One-Time Payment. Lifetime Access to your course. Pay once, drum forever!

PAINLESS

Learn with a relaxed, step-by-step method at your own pace.

You can also track your progress and see how much you have accomplished. Example below is from the Brushes Mastery Course.

Jazz Drums Total Lessons Pack

From clueless to gig-ready! Start from scratch and groove your way up to advanced Jazz drumming. Grab all my courses to go from your first beat to stealing the show! 

Get both the Soloing and Drum Fills Courses too!
Write your awesome label here.

Need a little more help with how to play Jazz drum solos and fills?

Send me a direct message in the School and ask your questions in my monthly Drum Lab class. Just some of the perks for joining Jazz Drum School! 

Von Baron

Jazz drummer, educator, composer

About YOUR TEACHER

Performing regularly on stage and in the recording studio for 35+ years, Von Baron is one of the busiest drummers in Japan. 

Playing with Stanley Jordan, Benny Golson, Eddie Henderson, Geoff Keezer and many others gave Von the opportunity to hone his Jazz drumming skills. 

It's with this real world experience, Von created this course to give you a solid foundation for your Jazz drumming.
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Kobe, Japan

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