Hello everyone, today I’m sharing a very practical fill-in practice!
When I was practicing drums, there was a feeling that the basic groove you can play, and the fills you can play in isolation, [
]but when you put them together, you suddenly can’t anymore XD
Especially when the fill ends but you don’t know where the first beat of the next measure went (sweat～
So this time we won’t challenge too complex fills, starting with two-eighth-note hi-hats on the simplest two hits, and practice how to smoothly connect the fill back to the original 8 Beat.
Actually, fills don’t have to be ridiculously complex; I think it’s more important to reconnect to the groove smoothly!
1. Start from the most basic 8 Beat
Before you formally practice fills, we’ll first solidify the basic 8 Beat.
This time we’re in 4/4; the rhythm is simple: [
]Hi-Hat: eighth notes, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & [
Snare: on beats 2 and 4
Kick: on beats 1 and 3[
This should be a very familiar groove XD
When I practice this kind of fill, I still run the basic groove a few rounds first, so my hands and feet get used to the tempo, then start adding variations.
Start from BPM 60, no need to rush to speed up.
Don’t worry about the fill yet; just let the Hi-Hat, Snare, and Kick follow the metronome steadily.
2. Change beat 4 to two hits on the snare
Next, we start adding today’s main feature!
The first three beats keep the original 8 Beat, and on the fourth beat, the right hand leaves the Hi-Hat and plays two eighth notes on the snare with both hands.
The procedure is: [
]Beat 4: Right hand R
Beat 4 backbeat &: Left hand L
i.e. two hits on the snare for the “4 &”.
Note that the original snare on beat 4 is already contained within these two hits, so no extra hit is needed.
Also, since the right hand has left the Hi-Hat, we won’t hit the Hi-Hat on beat 4 for now.
We can count with our mouth first: [
]1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
Then change the last two hits to: [
]1 & 2 & 3 & anda clap!
I personally like to say this a few times first, because if your mouth can’t say it smoothly, simply playing it won’t feel smoother XD
Here the focus is on the last two snare hits; you don’t need to jump into the next measure yet.
Remember these two hits are eighth notes, evenly placed on the fourth beat and the backbeat, not getting faster as you go.
3. The real challenge: after the fill, how to return to the first beat?
This is the most important part today!
The two snare hits can be done easily, but the real difficulty is how to reconnect to the next measure after finishing.
Especially since the right hand was on the snare and the next beat must immediately return to the Hi-Hat.
If I just focus on finishing the fill, I often realize on the next beat: “Ah! the right hand hasn’t returned!” XD
So this time we connect two measures together for practice.
First measure: a complete basic 8 Beat.
Second measure: keep the first three beats as 8 Beat, and the fourth beat changes to R, L two snare hits.
Then loop back to the first measure, bring the right hand back to Hi-Hat, and hit with the kick on beat one.
I find this set worth repeating many times.
In particular, focus on: [
]“4 & → 1 & 2”
After the last two snare hits, the next measure’s beat 1 must return to Hi-Hat + Kick on time, and the rhythm afterward should keep smoothly going.
Do not rush to speed up; practice until you can loop continuously without stopping to check the timing.
4. If you still can’t connect, I’ll break it down like this
If the first two measures still don’t connect smoothly, shorten the entire section to leave only the essential parts.
That is: [
]Right-hand snare → Left-hand snare → Right-hand Hi-Hat + Kick
These three actions.
Start slow and connect the last two snare hits with the next measure’s beat 1.
I think the most important part here isn’t how fast your hands are, but that after the fourth beat your right hand can smoothly return to the Hi-Hat.
Try mouthing: [
]“4, &, 1!”
Once these positions are comfortable, add back the basic rhythm from the front.
If you’re really stuck, slow down and concentrate on each interval in the cycle.
5. Finally add CYM to make the fill more complete!
If the earlier part has already been connected smoothly to the 8 Beat, let’s add a touch more variation!
This time the fill stays the same: Beat 4 is two snare hits (R, L).
The difference is that the next measure’s beat 1 is not Hi-Hat, but CYM + Kick.
Then beat 1 backbeat, the right hand returns to Hi-Hat.
This yields: [
]Beat 4: Snare R
Beat 4 backbeat: Snare L
Next measure beat 1: CYM + Kick
Next measure beat 1 backbeat: Hi-Hat
This set basically adds to what you’ve already practiced.
I’ll pay particular attention to the movement of the right hand, because moving from the snare to CYM and back to Hi-Hat adds a bit more motion than before.
So don’t rush to speed up; get each position to connect smoothly, then slowly increase BPM once the whole set can loop stably.
Finally
Was this fill easier than you thought?
Actually we only strike the two snare hits on beat 4 throughout, with no complicated shifts or long runs of sixteenth notes. [
]But I think this practice is important, because in the past when I was practicing songs, [
]I’d often focus on finishing the fill and end up not knowing where the first beat of the next measure went XD
So when practicing fills, I’ll pay special attention to three things: [
]Which beat the fill starts on? [
]How many beats does the fill occupy? [
]After finishing, what does the next measure’s beat 1 connect to? [
]
If you slowly master these three aspects, you can use the same method to connect longer fills back to the groove piece by piece. [
]And you don’t have to start with something extremely complex—first solidify the basics, then gradually introduce sixteenth notes, T1, T2, FT, and other moves. [
]After all, no matter how beautiful the fill is, if you can’t reconnect to the first beat… [
]then all the hard work would be for nothing? emoji [
]Let’s GONGO together today as well! 🥁