nanboylim:
Remember this: Attitude is 90% of anything you do.

When you feel frustrated ... step outside .... take a few deep breathes, ... and then start again.

When doing fills, remember that less can be more. I remember when I started and thought that 16th note fills were the bomb.

Then I started realizing that I was playing the same 16ths around the toms all the time.

Play less sometimes. One smack on a tom and cymbal can be more effective than fast fills!

Hope this helps.
DJ

Don't worry too much about what to play. Work on your timing and stick control, and then let your hands express what is in your heart! Try to not think about what to play, try to feel what to play!
Did you ever notice that some of the best drummers don't play anything flashy or fast, they play what seems to be the right riff at the right place in the right song.
Sometimes I feel like I do not determine what to play at a given spot in the music, the music determines what I play -- like it belonged there!

Like Mister_Acrolite said, listen to lots of different music and remember that music is ART. You must bring your emotions into play or you will continue to be unsatisfied with your performances. Put your heart into it, not your mind!

Nan,

It's more important to have 4 fills that you can play really well than to have 50 fills that sound like crap.  I think Gary Chester said that in the November issue of MD.  Or, was it Mickey Roker.  Anyway they're both legendary drummers whose comments on this subject deserve respect.

Having said that, I STRONGLY urge you to get Gary Chaffee's 2 videos on sticking, motion, rhythm, etc.  Gary Chaffee is also a legendary player/teacher who has tought players like Vinnie Colaiutta, Dave Weckle, Steve Smith.  These videos (based on the 4 "Patterns" books he wrote) will give you enough raw material to allow you to create new fills and groves to last the rest of your life.

Ratamatatt

i listen to a lot of folk music from the middle east and asia.  if i need some variety in my playing, ill try and adapt some of that to kit.  

Listen to guys like Jeff Pocaro and Andy Newmark who to me are masters of their use of toms. Particularly Andy. Here's a guy who uses two toms and you'd swear listening to some of his stuff that he's got at least four toms on his kit. I don't know how he does it.

I got into Andy as a Pink Floyd fan. His playing on "Two Suns In The Sunset" on The Final Cut just knocked me out. The groove is so sweet, the dynamics... not to mention the weird arrangement of the song. I'm sure Nick Mason was scratching his head not getting it and Roger Waters had to bring in Andy! After that, he played on Roger's "Pro's And Cons of Hitchhiking" which (if you can get through the album without slashing your wrists ) I highly recommend for brilliant tom playing.

That "Two Suns" performance really turned me around as a player. I started moving away from Bozzio and Bruford as principal influences and started appreciating the fine art of creative and supportive drumming. He became one of my favorite players. Soon after that I went into my Pocaro phase. Another thing about Andy... (sorry, I'm on a roll!) he has his cymbals mounted way high above the toms. His thinking was that this way he really had to reach for one, making him only go to a crash if it was really needed in the song. Less frequent "crashing" makes for that much more impact in terms of dynamics when you do crash.

Anyway, sorry to go off topic, but I just love his style. He's definitely a drummer to check out for creative use of toms.

Hello Side,

Thanks for sharing.

I got Jeff Porcaros old video by Starlicks and some of Toto's great tunes.  I wonder if he has some reading materials published before.

Just wanted to add my thoughts on this topic.

In regards to coming up with fill ideas, besides all the other great suggestions, here's a few more to give you some direction.

Get Ted Reed's Syncopation book and use the figures found in this book for your drum fill rhythms. All you need to do is pick a measure from the book, put it around the drums ... and voilà! ... you've got a cool fill. By taking just one of these figures you could spend hours coming up with countless fill ideas. BE CREATIVE!!! There are other books out there, but this is one that everyone should own in their personal library.

Another way I come up with fills is to take the melodic/rhythmic ideas from a song ... and turn it into a fill. It doesn't matter what style or music genre you use ... just apply the phrase around the kit, and you've got a happin' fill. Of course, the more syncopated the melody, the hipper your fill will be. You can even interpret the melodic contour by applying it to the drumkit. No one will know where you got the idea, so you don't have to worry about playing some Chopin piano line during your Heavy Metal gig. It works ... try it!

Bart, great Idea.  That Syncopation book may be the most versitile book out there.

Felix, did those Chaffee links come from the Patterns books?

Ratamatatt

Yes I remember some of them.

Filling using groupings are great but your band has to be hip to what they feel like as well.  If you just pull out the heavy artillery it usually throws them the first time around if they aren't expecting it.

It was from an old percussion international mag.-the chaffee grooves I mean.