Today’s lesson is about rock fills. I’m going to show you several fills and how you can use them in the music you play. I’ll also teach you how you can take these ideas and create your own rock fills.
What Is A Rock Fill?
A rock fill is a short variation from the rock beat you are playing in a song. It’s sometimes used to transition from one part of a song to another, like the verse to the chorus. It can be as short as one count or as long as several measures. They can be as simple as a couple of notes on the snare drum, or big long flurry of notes around the whole drum set. The important thing is that they fit in and compliment the song you are playing.
8 Common Rock Fills
We’ll start each of these patterns with a crash on one. It’s very common in rock music to hit the crash on one when you come out of the fill you just played.
Also notice the sticking I’m using for all these fills. I’m using a right hand lead. You start the fills with your right hand and end with your left. This frees your right hand to go back to the cymbal quickly. It’s also easy to learn coordination-wise, because during the rock beat you’re playing 8th notes with your right hand on the cymbal.
1. The first fill is a short one count 8th note fill on the snare drum. 8th notes fit in seamlessly with the beat we are playing. They also work at just about any tempo.
2. The second fill is 2 counts. I just expanded the 8th note idea in the first fill. You can expand this idea many ways by moving 8th notes on to more of the toms. For a really interesting sound, try playing some of the 8th notes on your bass drum with your foot during your fill.
3. This fill introduces 16th notes. It’s important to practice fills at a variety of tempos. Part of the reason for this is that you learn which type of fills sound best at certain tempos.
4. With this fill I combined 8th notes with 16th’s. To expand this idea try starting on count one. Play a one measure fill. Play 8ths and 16ths around the set in combinations that sound good and make sense physically (don’t involve playing multiple strokes with one hand.)
5. This fill uses a really common rhythm with two 16th’s followed by an 8th note. Practice the example here first. Then try putting the 8th note on a tom or your bass drum. Expand it to 2 counts or 4 counts by playing this rhythm around the toms.
6. This fill uses another very common rhythm. Notice that it’s the opposite of the last rhythm. It’s one 8th note followed by 2 16th notes. There are many ways to expand this fill. Try adding 2 8th notes before or after the rhythm on a tom. Try playing the rhythm in fill 5 right before this rhythm.
7. This fill introduces 16th note triplets. On count 4 there are 3 notes (a triplet) played on the first 8th note. Expand this idea by playing the last 8th note with your bass drum. Then try other ways of moving the rhythm around the drums.
This fill uses 2 sets of 16th note triplets on count 4. You’ll find this idea works for slow and medium tempos. It can work for somewhat faster tempos as long as the song too fast. Generally the faster a song is the less notes you play. At faster tempos there simply isn’t enough room between the beats to fit a lot of notes.
Keys To Mastering Rock Fills
- Start by practicing the written examples. Practice each example many times. Practice at lots of different tempos.
- Practice playing the examples without looking at them. This will help you internalize the patterns.
- Create your own fills using these as inspiration and examples. You should write down your fills and practice them just like the exercises presented here.. You can download free manuscript paper at blanksheetmusic.net.
- Practice improvising fills. Play at different tempos and randomly play different fills you’ve learned. Eventually you will create fills spontaneously combining different ideas you’ve learned.
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