This week’s finish the fill sees us starting our drum fills with some floor tom and bass drum interplay followed by a snare on beat 2. What happens after that, is up to you!
Where To Start?
The start of this drum fill requires good co-ordination between your right hand and right foot to play nice even 16ths between your floor tom and your right hand. Play it slowly at first and check that your are playing the 16th notes evenly.
What Happens Next?
Thirty Second Notes! That’s what happens next on our first example in the video. Three quick flurries of 32nd notes to provide an explosive end to the fill. The bass drum and floor tom pattern from beat 1 is continued on beat 2 before changing on beat 3 for quick 32nd note single stroke flurries.
Our second ending takes a funkier approach to the fill. The bass drum continues playing on the “Es” and “As” but the hands sit out until beat 4. This creates a funky spacious fill. Work with a metronome to make sure your bass drum is really hitting all the “Es” and “As” on beats 2 and 3 correctly.
Ending number 3 sees is slow things down on beat 2, before speeding them up again with a 16th note triplet ending. It’s a slightly tricky ending as we’re playing 4 note groups against the 16th note triplet subdivision. Simple to execute in theory, but if you haven’t tried it before, the timing might catch you out. Go slow and count!
Ending 4 sticks to the 16th note subdivision and has us playing up the toms using a RLK pattern. It’s a simple fill but I like the melody of it and it’s not often you play backwards up the toms.
The final ending extends the bass drum, snare drum, and floor tom pattern from the beginning all the way up to beat 4 where I finish it off with a quick 16th note triplet flurry.
How Will You Finish The Fill?
You have seen five of my endings, so now it’s time to generate your own. Have fun with it and get creative!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s finish the fill. If you’re in Singapore and you’d like a free trial lesson, send us a message via the Contact Us page.