Drum Fill-ins of Grooves for Internal Phrasing

 

 

 

 

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Drum Fill-ins are NOT the same as Drum Fills:

 

 

Fill-ins shouldn’t be confused with Fills.  Fills  occur during a break in the Time-Keeping, and often when nobody else in the band is playing.

 

On the other hand, Fill-ins occur during the Time-Keeping by adding extra notes between the regular Time-Keeping notes and the underlying Groove.  This is often done on the Snare Drum quietly (with ghost-notes) or on the Time-Keeping cymbal or on a different cymbal like the Hi-Hat when the Time-Keeping is on the Ride cymbal.

 

Fill-ins shouldn’t be so loud that they change the Groove because 60-70% of what drummers should be doing is “Support” of the Groove.  Instead, Fill-ins are added to thicken up the texture of the Groove and thus are a form of “Embellishment,” which is about 20-30% of what drummers should be doing.  Where you do this creates Internal Phrasing that helps the Groove flow like waves of energy in the music.  I call these patterns “Rhythmic-Energy Contours” (see the “Musical Phrasing” section of Drums – Grooves) just like there are melodic contours regarding the flow of pitch in music.

 

 

Video:  Drums – Fills & Fill-ins – 1 hand + 1 or 2 Bass Drums before, under, or after

 

Video:  On the Snare Drum, add the “e” of Count 4 as an Echo or “a” to Setup “1” or both for a Buildup to “1” based on the Phrasing or what you hear others do

 

Video:  Make “4e+” very even

 

Video:  On the Hi-Hat, add “e” or “a” or “e a” in the “4” slot

 

Video:  On the Hi-Hat, add “e+a” of Count “4” to subtly buildup to “1”

 

Video:  Add your Fill-ins at the end of a 2 or 4-bar phrase

 

More Coming!

 

 

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