You might need a doctor after fill of the week #18. This drum fill is going to herta a lot!
Fill of the week #18 uses a rudiment known as the Herta which we met back in fill of the week #11. In fill of the week #11 we were using the herta in 16th & 8th note triplet form; in this fill we’re using it in 32nd & 16th note form. If you’ve already studied fill of the week #11 then this fill shouldn’t “herta” so bad! If you’re not sure what a herta is, then maybe go study fill of the week #11 first.
Learn The Fill
The first step in learning this fill is to be comfortable with the 16th note sticking pattern that we’ll be using. This will be RRL repeated 5 times with an extra R on the end. Here it is:
Make sure you can play and count this basic pattern before moving on. Start at 50 – 60bpm and count out loud while you’re doing it.
Our next step is to form the Hertas by putting a Left handed 32nd note between the double Rights. Don’t alter your counting, just feel the 32nd note slipping in between the 2 right hands. Count out loud and work slowly.
Working slowly with a metronome at around 40bpm will help you to get comfortable with this rhythm. Use a metronome that can play the 16th note subdivisions for you and count out loud with it.
The final step in this fill is to orchestrate it around the kit. I chose to split the first 4 hertas between the high tom and snare drum and the last one between the mid tom and the floor tom. I finish the fill on the Right hand and therefore crash with my Left on beat one. You can try changing that last Right to a Left and then crash with your right if your more comfortable that way. However it’s good to be comfortable crashing with either hand. Here’s the full fill:
Taking It Further
This fill is already amazingly awesome, but we can tweak it a little. Here’s some simple re-orchestrations.
The first two orchestrations are just moving the hands around. The last two introduce the bass drum into the fun. The third variation is similar to a drum fill John Bonham played on the Led Zeppelin Song “Stairway to heaven” – you can hear it around the 6:20 mark in that song.
I hope that fill of the week #18 didn’t herta too much & that you learnt something from it! If you’re in Singapore and you’d like a free trial drum lesson, send us a message on the contact us page.