Music Lesson: Making Your Fill More Interesting

Hey, welcome back!

In the last lesson, we learned the single stroke roll and how to use it as a fill. Today, I'm going to show you a couple of ways to make that fill a little more interesting.

Introducing the Toms

You might have noticed that we've got these two toms here that we actually haven't touched yet. Well, I have, but you haven't! So, what we're going to do is take that fill:

1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a

• Play 1 and 2 on the snare drum.
• Transfer 3 e and a to the rack tom.
• Move 4 e and a to the floor tom.

It sounds like this:
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a.

Let's break it down one more time:

• 1 e and a 2 e and a on the snare drum.
• 3 e and a on the rack tom.
• 4 e and a on the floor tom.

I'll play it for you one more time.

Incorporating the Toms into the Beat

Now, let's try playing that fill with the toms involved after having played our quaver beat for three bars.

• The fourth bar will be our fill with the toms.
• Let's try it out, playing it slowly.

This leads me nicely into another point. You'll find that at the end of that fill, both your hands are down here. There might be a bit of a stretch to get straight back there for beat one.

Adding a Crash Cymbal

There's that big movement going over here. However, we've got a couple of cymbals that we also haven't used yet!

So, what we're going to do is play the same beat once we come out of the fill, but instead of the hi-hat on beat one, we'll use a crash cymbal.

Remember: Crash cymbals are like exclamation marks, starting a new section of a tune and letting everybody know exactly where we are.

It's going to sound like this:
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a ? and then crash cymbal back into the beat.

I'll show you.

Practice Rhythm

You get the idea! The right hand is doing nothing different during the beat at all. You're still playing this exact rhythm, except beat one has been played on the crash cymbal.

• Try doing that a few times.
• You can even play the last four semiquavers of the fill and try to get that movement fluid. Sometimes it can be a bit of a stretch getting back over.

Try that a few times, then we'll attempt the whole fill going back in. Play that round a couple of times and aim to make it feel really, really natural.

Relaxation Tips

Now, I know I keep going on about this, but I will continue to emphasize it, and you'll thank me in five years:

• Relax! Keep your shoulders relaxed and arms loose.
• You don't have to flop around any more than necessary; there's no need to get overly dramatic with your movements.

Sure, you may see some drummers exaggerating their motions, but you don't need to! There's no added benefit to it.

• The cymbal can only be so loud on its own.

Stay loose and enjoy!

Thanks so much for watching.