Playing with music
Lesson time: (4min 51sec)
Alex Reeves shows how to lock your fills to the music - sitting on the bass line first, then placing fills where the song actually wants them.
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:
Music Lesson: Locking On with the Bass Line
To start with, you must lock on with the bass line. Follow these key steps:
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Play a Simple Beat:
- Play a simple beat to the track.
- Listen hard to the notes that are being played.
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Achieve Synchronization:
- If you get it right, the bass and the drums should feel and sound as one.
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Add the Fills:
- Once you're locked on with the bass line, add the fills.
- Play the beat for a few bars up front, then include the written exercises.
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Singing the Rhythms:
- As with the last lesson, I want you to sing the rhythms of the fills.
- This may not be so easy, as there'll be a lot of things to think about.
- Persist though; it is well worth it.
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Move the Phrases:
- Once you've got this down, move the phrases around the kit, just like you've done in previous lessons.
- To start with, only use the interpretations that you've practiced so far.
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Explore Different Fills:
- Remember, there are thousands of different fills.
- I'm showing you the kind of thing that you can play, but I want you to explore all the possibilities.
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Continuous Listening:
- Listen to and lock on with the bass line throughout.
Example Studies
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Here is an example of the locking on study, played at 100 beats per minute.
- Listen to how the notes of the click disappear when I play the bass drum and the snare drum.
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Now, this is the locking on study played at 50 beats per minute.
- It's much more difficult because the gaps are much greater.
- Concentrate on locking on with every single note that's played.
Ann.
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