Groove of the week #45 was in 7/8. Here’s a fill in 7/8 to go with it.
We’re back using our old friend the 5-note grouping for this fill. We’ve used 5-note groupings several times; the last time was Fill Of The Week #33 where we used it in 8th note triplet form. This time we’re going across 16th notes with it. Let’s check it out.
Learn The Fill
We’re playing in the 7/8 time signature for this fill, that means we’ve got seven 8th notes in a bar or fourteen 16th notes. If we divide fourteen by 5 then we get 2 complete groups of 5 with 4 16th notes left over. By making the bass drum the last note of our 5 note group though, we can play 3 complete groups of 5 because the last bass drum note will land on beat 1 of the next bar. Here’s the basic pattern for this fill:

So our basic pattern is R L R L Kick and because we’re playing in 7/8 we’re counting it 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & Sev &. Practice playing this pattern smoothly at slow tempos first.
Our next step is to orchestrate this pattern around the kit. I opted to progressively move the pattern around the kit. I play the first group of 5 between Hi-hat and Snare, the next group between Snare and the First Tom, and the final group between the First Tom and the Floor Tom. Here’s what that looks like:

When you play it with a 7/8 groove and put the bass drum (with or without a crash) on beat 1 of the next bar then it’ll sound you are playing 3 groups of 5.
Try playing this fill together with Groove Of The Week #45 – it’s also in 7/8.
Taking It Further
Having spent the time to get comfortable playing this five note pattern over 16th notes, you should spend some time orchestrating it around the kit yourself. Here’s some other orchestrations for you:

All three of these variations use the same 5 note pattern – R L R L Kick. Try creating some of your own. Creating new fills from the same basic pattern is a great way to expand your fill vocabulary. Create as many as you can.
I hope you’ve enjoyed Fill Of The Week #45. If you’re in Singapore and you’d like a free trial lesson, send us a message on the contact us page.