Give your drum fills a kick with some 16th note triplets.

This week’s drum fill is a simple 16th note fill played between the hands and feet but on beat 3 we have a sixteenth note triplet twist. We did something similar on Fill Of The Week #13 with beat 4. Check that one out to get more ideas.

Learn The Fill

The best place to start with this drum fill is to count the rhythm that we’re playing. Here’s the basic rhythm of the drum fill:

Start by playing this on your snare drum with single strokes and counting along. I like to use a metronome that clearly counts 8th notes and I listen to check that all my numbers (1,2,3,4) and “&”s are lining up correctly with the metronome.

Once we have that, we can apply our sticking pattern to it. This fill features some bass drum notes also, so we’ll put those in too.

Practice playing this pattern slowly with the metronome – 50bpm is a good place to start. Go slower if need be. Count all the notes.

The final step is to orchestrate the drum fill around the kit. I encourage you to play around with it and find your own orchestrations. Here’s mine:

Take It Further

I consider the first half of this fill to a set up fill. That is, it’s setting up the second half for the big ending. After playing the first half of the fill, you can do whatever you like on the last two beats depending on the context you’re playing in. The first just provides you with a nice platform to jump off of and create something memorable. Here’s 3 suggestions:

The first fill goes for a power finish with flams and kick drums but stays with 16th notes.

The second fill brings back the 16th note triplets but puts them on the 4th beat for a surprise ending.

The final fill brings in some 32nd notes to create an elegant ending around the toms.

Try out all three of these variations and then create some of your own.

I hope you’ve enjoyed fill of the week #60. If you’re in Singapore and you’d like a free trial drum lesson, send us a message on the Contact Us page.