Al Miller's 1,000 Solos for the Drum Set, Volume 1: Swinging the Triplets

Few books have proven as durable or effective as Miller's 1,000 Solos series, and this triplet-focused volume deserves a place in every drummer's routine work. The pairing of video demonstrations with audio tracks removes guesswork from execution, letting students hear exactly how these patterns should sit rhythmically and swing. The restoration of this material by Matt Miller honors the original while making it genuinely usable for today's learners.

Swinging triplets demands a different kind of attention than straight sixteenths. These solos capture that elastic, bouncing quality of jazz swing while keeping your limbs honest about what each one is doing independently.

Beginning drummers building independence and triplet fluency will find these 10 routines essential daily work. Jazz drummers at any level benefit from the limb coordination challenges Miller presents, and ensemble drummers strengthening their chops will appreciate the fill vocabulary embedded throughout.

• Start each routine at a tempo where triplet subdivision feels natural in your hands, then gradually increase speed only after the sticking pattern becomes automatic.
• Record yourself playing through one complete routine and listen back for evenness across the three notes of each triplet; uneven timing often masks itself in real time.
• Isolate the bass drum and snare drum patterns separately before combining them, paying special attention to how the kick drum locks underneath triplet figures.
• Use the video files not just to check your sticking but to observe Matt Miller's wrist and arm motion; the mechanical efficiency visible in his playing transfers directly to your own technique.

Add this to your drummer's pre-rehearsal warm-up routine or assign one routine per week as focused practice homework. Jazz ensemble directors can pull fill ideas directly from this book to customize parts for specific tune arrangements.

• Triplet subdivision and swing feel
• Limb independence between kick drum, snare drum, and sticking hand
• Jazz drum fill vocabulary and application
• Reading and executing coordinated single, double, and combination stickings
• Rhythmic precision and evenness across extended patterns