Longer fill-ins
Lesson time: (4min 55sec)
Alex Reeves extends your drum fills into longer phrases around the kit, working them cleanly at a slow tempo before building up speed.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Fills In Time: Drum Fills & Time-Feel in 15 Lessons
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Lesson Four: Expanding Your Drum Fills
Hello!
In this lesson, we're going to take the ideas from last time and make them slightly longer as fills around the drum kit.
Setting the Tempo
- If you're comfortable with the previous beat, set your metronome to a higher speed.
- Play a simple beat.
- Try to sing the beat that you're playing.
- Play this until you feel locked in.
Moving On to the Exercises
Next, without stopping, move on to the exercises:
- Play each exercise multiple times.
- I will play each one a few times to demonstrate what they should sound like.
- I'll move them around the kit later on.
Applying Movement Ideas
Once you've played these fills comfortably on the snare drum:
- Apply the movement ideas we discussed in the last lesson.
- There are many ways to play each fill, so explore as many combinations as possible to find what works for you.
- Start at a lower speed than I am demonstrating, and gradually work up to a higher tempo.
Tips for Success
These may be difficult to start with, but keep at them, and you'll really reap the rewards.
- Sa Sa: Remember, there are thousands of fill combinations. I've shown you just a few.
- Practice your own to help develop your unique sound.
Example Groove
Here, I play a groove at 100 beats per minute with some of my own ideas.
Happy drumming!
About the instructor
Alex is a freelance musician who has performed live and in the studio with artists as diverse as Dizzee Rascal, Unkle, Bat for Lashes, Guy Garvey and Elbow. He has played headline slots at all the major UK festivals, including televised appearances on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage, Oxygen Main Stage and T In The Park. International TV performances also include Live on MTV, the Jools Holland Hootenanny and The BBC Electric Proms with Dizzee Rascal. On stage Alex has played with artists who have scored number one singles and albums all over the world, including Boy George, The Jones Girls and Johnny Hates Jazz. Alex has also been Musical Director for Island Records' Cocknbullkid, produced an album for Lotte Mullan, and performed live with Mercury nominated rapper Ty, American Blues legend Earl Thomas and singer-songwriter Ezio. Alex has recorded in all the major studios in London, including Abbey Road, Angel, Air and Rak, and runs his own private drum studio from East London's Fortress complex. Recorded highlights at The Drum Fortress include the top 5 single Shine with the Lovefreekz, Wretch 32's Breathe, UNKLE's collaboration with Nick Cave and the beat for American rapper Nas's single Nasty. He has also played drums and percussion on major TV adverts for companies that include McDonalds, X-Box and Toyota, provided beats for computer games like Sega Rally 2 and Shellshock 2, and appeared on many TV and film soundtracks, including the major release of Brideshead Revisited. Alex writes a regular tuition column for Drummer magazine, has written a book with accompanying DVD, and recorded a 1960s funk breaks sample CD. In his MusicGurus course, Fills In Time, he distils all that studio and stage experience into 15 quick lessons that sharpen your time-feel and build a vocabulary of drum fills you can drop straight into your own playing. And yes - he still calls his mum every week. read more