DRUMMER CAFE - Community Forum

I just bought a new dvd today of Jamie Borden(never heard of him before)i thought it was Neil playing on the disk, but wasnt paying to much attention,hey it said "RUSH" on it.Anyhow this guy breaks down about 8 of RUSHES tunes.All i can say is holly fill-o rama!It seems there is a fill in every bar,in most cases this would sound way to busy for me but Neil just nails it.How many different ways he plays a fill is crazy,im learning alot of tricks from this dvd.My question is what are your favorite fills that all of you play on a regular basis?and how did you come up with them? ;D

The "shapes" just come to me after years and years of practicing and playing them; it's up to me to make them hip sounding in the moment.

I like playing all kinds of stuff on a regular basis- the more, the better.  I'm not sure if I have a favorite lick but I've been really getting into the applying of dynamics over the different things I play lately.

do you like to incorperate your cymbals in your fills?

I like 4 - 16th notes usu. played on beat 4 at the end of a fill :

        4 e & a
c       X        X
s          o o
b       o        o

I don't use this in any of our songs (yet), I just play it alot when I'm playing by myself- guess that means I like it alot.


I also like tom heavy stuff.  I'll play like 4 measures of a tom oriented beat (not riding on the tom) ending with 1 or 2 beats of something on the snare to transition back to regular groove on HH or ride.

Coming up with fills for me has always been a matter of sitting at the kit and hitting things in a random fashion until I hear 2 things I like together then I build from there.  Sometimes I do it with a particular song in mind, so I'll be singing a melody in my head.  Sometimes I'm just experimenting to find my voice.

My latest fill (in a song for my band) uses every piece of my kit except effects cymbals, 2nd bass pedal and ride.  That's interesting to me considering I play silly punk rock music - but hey it sounds good - so who cares?

I like to incorporate my bass drum into fills somewhat regularily.  Using alternating snare or tom hits with the kick.  Lately I have been adding more dynamics into my fills as well.  Lots of ghost notes or ghost buzzes on the snare while the other hand is doing something else.    
I usually just use whatever type of fill fits the style.  

love this one to start on 3 and end on 4 with a snare/cymbal accent

16th note triplets:


                   >
s         x x   |x
                  |
b     oo    oo|


in class....more later

Lately, I've been making a conscious effort to simplify my fills.  I'm finding that the other musicians in my band appreciate it more.

Over the weekend, I played a fill where I just laid into 4 beats of 16th notes on the snare.  My bass player/band leader turned around and looked at me like "yeah!" and he really started getting into it.

Other musicians seem to really appreciate simple fills that really set up the next phrase, especially if you play them like you really mean them.  

Good point, fills don't mean nada if they don't add to the music,  a fill should never be a drummers attempt to show off his chops, it should be a set up, an ending, or a phraze within itself that adds to the music as a whole, keep that in mind before learning too many stock fills that (if not played properly i.e. within the context of the song/musically)  will have a good chance of distracting from the music instead of adding to it.

good way to practice is to work one fill  (start simple like 4 16th notes)  and add dynamics and accents, then orchestrate the pattern (start with all on the snare, then move the notes to toms, bass drum, cymbals, etc.),  and change the phrazing of the fill by starting on a different beat (instead of 4 try the 'e' of 4 ending up on the 'e' of 1....totally different feel to it)  finally try dropping some notes out, creating space (might consider this a different patern like  "1 e + a"  drop the 'e' and you have  " 1    + a" )    you mix all those things together and 4 notes suddenly becomes an infinate variety of musical accompianment.  Prepare yourself to play what you feel, not just some stock fill that doesn't fit.

Still working on all this myself, but imo definaetly a much better approach to drumming and fills.

I see Neil likes to use "Quads" alot,i like the sound it produces,sounds good up to speed!Pretty simple stuff with some practice.I remember Gregg Bissinette talking about doing 8ths on his bass,to help propel the song.Ijust bought Rick Lathams"Advanced Funk Studies"it has some kool licks in there,he interviews Louie Bellson &Ed Shaunghnessy(Mostly self promotion stuff)pretty kool non the less.I want to learn to play some kool funk stuff,can anyone suggest any really good FUNK albums,maybe some Bernard"Pretty Purdie tunes.

This is what most of my fills are.  I forgot to mention my all time favorite fill (to listen to).  The end of Custard Pie when Bonham hits those big toms.  It's just 2 notes of pure simplicity- but I love it.  I like to listen to it in the car so I can keep rewinding it.

I like how mike portnoy discussed it on his dvd. He talked about coming up with a "toolbox" of fills that you have practiced and mastered. Then as you learn songs or are just jamming, you have a plethora of ideas ready to go, all you need to do is orchestrate or add dynamics to fit the musical situation. The more playing/practicing/learning you do, the more your toolbox grows. Before you know it you have a limitless supply of ideas ready to go at any given time. But again, as it can not be stressed enough, having this toolbox is not an end in and of itself. It is a means to the end, which is inserting a selected fill into the music tastefully and appropriately.

Derrick

Really need another thread for this, but here's just a FEW for you:

James Brown --  Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, I Got You (I Feel Good), In the Jungle Groove
Tower of Power -- Tower of Power, In the Slot, Back to Oakland
The Meters -- The Very Best of the Meters

Finally, you should get a Funk compilation CD, such as "Pure Funk" or "New Millenium Funk Party" where you're going to find all of the artists who pioneered the style, along with their greatest hits.  EVERYBODY should know these songs, as well.  Then, choose the artists you like, and check out their specific albums:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000006NX9/ref=pd_sim_music_1/103-8311780-1143829?v=glance&s=music

Hope this helps get you started.

thanx, Scott for heads up!I will check it out.

personally I like the fill's that Micah Havertape from Flaw does. I like how he makes them to where the listener can actually feel emotions in just the drumming alone

I am personally running out of fills:(:(:(

I have a nice and wonderful 3/4 bar fill extracted from a Ballad piece and it works 99% perfectly in slow songs!

I also have another fill from a Funk piece that works PERFECTLY in fast songs. It is a one bar fill type. I also have another hard rock like fill that also works really well in place of the Funk one. BUT I am currently only very familier with those three fills(Including the ballad one). Which means, I can play them in occations without fear of playing it wrongly.

As for the other fills, I still need to find a place for them and to MEMORISE them properly(So that I can make sure I won't be making any mistakes during live situations!!!)! It isn't easy.

I am still searching for useful fills for Funk, Hard Rock, and slow Rock based musics. The ones I will be playing with the band!!

Please advise me if you can.

I'm not sure how long you have been playing, but you need to walk before you can run.


Noodle out some chops that you are comfortable with and displace them all over the different voices of your kit... one can also permutate fills into grooves and grooves into fills, that's a great trick I sometimes use.  How is your doubling? If your technique is happening you can dbl any single up to pretty high tempi.

Get your linear playing happening for funk if that's what you dig.  A serious study session including the works from Rick Latham, Gary Chaffee and David Garibaldi will totally open up your playing.  You can apply these concepts for a more modern approach to jazz/fusion if you feel you need to vamp out from traditional jazz (Chapin's Advanced Techniques) approaches.  But learn your Chapin syncopation first.  Speaking of syncopation you need to find a hip teacher to get you playing Ted Reed's "Syncopation" and all the different ways one can play thru it.

The more you know, the more you can tastefully apply and still be the hippest cat on the block.  Playing simple is great and has it's place- I love to play simple, but that can get "old hat" fast.

The trick is all the technique and style tastefully applied in the correct situation.  If you have your chops happening and are playing to support the band, all of these things will work out very nicely.
This takes decades for some... for some it never happens and for some it comes very naturally.  Good luck.

I thought I was the only drummer left that still plays one measure of 16th notes for fills.  I also do this with rimshots it seems to bring a lot of excitement to the tune and does pump up the band.

Bingo!  :) :) :)

Most of my fills are short little bursts of activity between the bass and snare.  

I usually kind of just make it up as a go along but one fill i really like is: (dont know how to type it out)

one beat of singles one quarter note one beat of singles one quarter note and then two beats of singles and one quarter note then i finish with one beat singles and cymbal

its a pretty long fill but im still learning singles so im keepin it simple

I have been working on linear fills for the past few months (a suggestion from Felix ;D) and that has been great.

Now I am working to incorporate the BD into my fills using alot of doubles and singles. When done right it sounds killer but I really have to have a FEEL to it and things have to land well --- if that makes sense.

My goal is to get a strong coordination of my BD into the fill in a linear fashion (not just following my right hand) and getting the doubles working everywhere. Then I want to let the fills musically arrive when my head feels them in a song -- without thinking about it.

I am almost there. :)

I do a lot of Gadd-style fills, triplets or 16th notes that go; snare-tom-tom-kick.

My favorite fill that works in a lot of music that is simple enough for other musicians to like it and challenging enough to enjoy is another Gadd fill. From Paul Simon's "Late in The Evening" at 2:47. A variation on that works a lot.

I also love syncopated fills a-la-Ringo on "A Day in The Life." I learned to do those by practicing straight 8th note fills and randomly omitting a hit here and there. It creates tension but keeps time.

I also love to do triplet fills that originated from when rock drumming was in its infancy and was still very jazz-inspired. My best example is the opening drum fill and every drum break from Hendrix's "Little Wing."

I am in a kind of new wave/indie rock band, and my bandmates somehow really seem to dig my older influences.

Triplets all over the place.

I guess I prefer to play a mix of triplet and quarter note fills. I stay away from the bumbada-bumbada-bumbada-crash types.  I do keep things simple within a song unless the original is well know and I have to pull off what folks are use to hearing  (try listing to alot of ZZtop).

A wise guitar player once told me that if you really break it down, BB King made a career out of playing one note.  The thing was, he played that note with more feeling and soul than anyone before or after him.  

So, I go with the BBKing philosophy of fills - keep it simple and play it like you mean it.  
Cheers, Bob

Somehow I now begin to marvel at the impact simple fills can cause. My formal indian band leader of 40+ who doesn't have much experience with drums can get really dynamic with simple fills. He will play a really simple straightforward beat firmly and then when it is time for a fill; he can just perform single strokes on the hi-hat and reach out to the other drum parts and he also hit all the cymbals rapidly in succession. Very simple fills but dynamic and loud.