What are drum fills? How can they be used in a musical context? In this free video drum lesson, Jared Falk answers these questions and teaches five beginner drum fills. They are broken down slowly, so you can see exactly how to play them and how they sound. As an added bonus, each drum fill is demonstrated in a musical context. This free drum lesson includes two versions of the track Jared plays along to in the video – one with the drum tracks removed and an alternate version with a metronome added in. Use them for practicing these or any other drum fills you’d like.
Any pattern played on a drum set or on a practice pad is nothing more than a sequence of strokes. So start by learning the stroke sequence. Once you’re comfortable with it, play it to a click track. This will help you line up the strokes perfectly. Then, you can start playing it in a beat-fill-beat combination. Use the beat provided in the sheet music for each one of the exercises. Once you’re comfortable with it, use any other drum beat you’d like instead.
Exercise #1 is a basic 8th note drum fill played around the drums. Remember to start out slowly when you get to practice this stock drum fill with a metronome. Increase the tempo of the metronome once you feel comfortable with the the speed at what you were practicing this drum fill. You can crash on one of your cymbals on count 1, right after you’re done playing the drum fill. This is a very common procedure for signaling the start of a new phrase or section. If you want to learn how to play more 8th note drum fills, check the free drum lesson “Eighth Note Drum Fills”
With exercise #2, you’ll play four notes per drum instead of the two of the previous one. This means that this drum fill is two-times faster, so it’s really important to start out slowly. Rushing the learning process will only hinder you. Speed comes with control and relaxation, so take your time. Also, focus on hitting the center of each drum to produce a consistent sounding tone.
By relaxing your grip, you’ll get a richer tone out of your drums, your skins will last longer and you’ll decrease the chances of developing repetitive strain injuries. If you want to know more about correct stick grip, check the free drum lesson “How To Hold Your Drumsticks“.
Drum fill #3 is a variation of the previous one. Instead of playing four strokes per drum, you’ll have to split them up between different drums in groups of two. The biggest challenges you’ll find here are transitioning between the floor tom and snare drum on count 4 – if you play right hand lead – and between the snare drum and floor tom on count 3 – if you play left hand lead. This is so, because your leading hand will have to crossover the other hand. This can lead to stick clicks and drops, or even worse, to hitting your own hand.
Exercise #4 is a bit more challenging than the previous ones. It’s a 16th note broken up pattern where we can see the bass drum being incorporated into a drum fill for the very first time. The coordination required to play this drum fill is a lot more demanding. Start out slowly and take your time while perfecting the timing needed to transition effortlessly between hands and foot. If you’d like to learn how to play more 16th note broken drum fills and drum fills that incorporate the bass drum, check the free drum lessons “Beginner Broken 16th Note Drum Fills” and “Beginner 16th Note Linear Drum Fills“, respectively.
This pattern is a good reminder of how creative you can be when coming up with your own drum fills. Any instrument on your drum set can be used in a drum fill. When you’ve mastered this drum fill as written, use your left foot on the hi-hat pedal instead of on the bass drum pedal. This is an added challenge that will increase your left foot control and coordination.
Exercise #5 is another 16th note drum fill. This one is a little awkward to play at first, because of the syncopated tom strokes played with the weaker hand on counts 2 and 3. The secret behind mastering this drum fill is to learn it slowly at first, so you can get comfortable with the sticking pattern.
As soon as you feel you have mastered these drum fills, you can either mix and match them to create totally different patterns, or check the free drum lesson “Quarter Note Drum Fills” next. Remember to stay positive, creative, and have a lot of fun.
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Wow God bless You
Mi son is learning from your vids
God bless for ur time
I want to improve my weaker hand
teach me
im confused.. based on the drum note its written floor tom and bass drum.. but correct me if im wrong, you’re actually hitting the snare?
I love these…
I’ve learned more about automotive history watching his videos than anywhere else.
How to speed up your druble stroke roll/drum
i need serious drum lessions. And how to master enough courage
I love it teach me
can i have a video
I like your lessons.
I like your lessons, to good
good for you
I want to improve my weakhand can u help me
hi,am a drummer and also an upcoming producer
plz teach i wana learn.And please also send some of your video clip to my gmail
Great lesson – beautifully taught. And I especially like fill #4. If I can nail that, it’d be amazing!
Thanks
teach me pls
I can’t believe how just well this video is pitched and so brilliantly presented. Cool, laid back and structured teaching – led by thorough example – supported by both downloads and written text. It is filled with sound advice – whilst all the time maintaining a genuine enthusiasm for the student to be rewarded by their own perseverance.
I don’t tend to give praise lightly – this is excellent work that has certainly got me started.
Thank you.
I want to download this sound track bt itz nt showing me the download option….can u help plz
I want to learn how to play drum on my own i need help
Dude just press hold on the music mp3 if u r on android.. u will see an option to save link.. click on that and have fun… By the way thanx man nice fills. And mp3 is awesome.
Most People are not willing to spend a lot of time sharing information to help others improve. Thanks!! Super Simple To Understand, and Extremely Useful for New Drummers….GREAT JOB!!
I have been using this video lately, but today it says it’s “not available in my country”! I’m in TEXAS! How can I get the video to play? Other videos from DRUMEO work just fine.
Help!
I am not able to download this MP3? Can anyone help me how to do that? When I click on that, it opens on the different page but do not download. Please assist. Thanks
Try to open in in chrome.
I also had same problem
men ur awesome these lessons are great u are a drumbeat guru,u seem to understand harmony in beats,ur lessons really helped me alot thanks
thanks for ur post its inspring…. But ah dn’t realy get how to download the video -from NIGERIA
the fils are good…. U guys r inspiring.. But ah dn’t realy get how to download the video….
Havn’t use it buh I fink it’ll b cool
Wow short of words
my achievement is to become a famous drummer and it is really helpful to learn it and also easy to learn……
Thank you for your video this is very” help me how to fills because I’am beginner drumer…
I like this video because I wan’t to learn to a godd drumer..
I would like to add that I said to myself “I’m going to let go of all the secondary thinking,which is filtering my thoughts about learning drums through my past experience and just start from original thinking or what is the here and now only.
I said to myself “Okay I have a task to do and how am I going to go about it? Just one step at a time.”
It really helps me to forget all the people from my past who would criticize me. Maybe not for you but for me a big hinderance. And I hope this will help someone.
every thing are okay but they are not downloadable for more rehersals why?
I started learning drums at the age of 80. I am now 82 and thanks to your drum lessons I now do a guest spot at a jazz gig most weeks.
That’s fantastic. So encouraging to me. I am 48 and am always wondering if it is too late to start. Am still pressing on and after your post with further zeal 😉
You are AWSOME! I’m 66 and started a few months ago. You’ve given me hope!
I thought I was too old to start with drumming being 35. Lots of histories of guys who started being 3 or even less… You are both examples, thanks, very encouraging. Keep drumming! 😀 Thanks to the teachers as well!
Quero parabenizar o produtores deste site pela qualidade de ensino, pois sou iniciante e os ensino estão me ajudando muito sem falar o playlong show , adorei, abraço,valeu.
cleison/Pernambuco-Brasil.
grandioso curso el mejor del mundo solo me falta la Bateria 🙂
That was really helpful. But i want to download the video but i am not gettin how to do it.
This is an awesome lesson for a beginner like me :). Now I can practice with easy and great drum fills at home. I would like to thank you for the effort you have made in posting this video. This video inspire me. Keep up the good work.
amazing nice lesson
I have read several good stuff here. Definitely value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you place to make any such wonderful informative website.
Hi,how i can download that music??
I clicked tat link and it just started playing,so how i download that music to my computer and there to my ipod??
you have to right click and thendo save link as or save target as. happy drumming may the force be with u bro
that was amazing this video…..
good job my bro keep up.
blesss
nice love it
i luv that but i don’t have drum in my home i trinnig in the home of teenager ..
Hello. God richly bless you for your good works. I can start playing the drums now.
I will right away snatch your rss feed as I can’t to find your email subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly allow me understand so that I may subscribe. Thanks.
Great blog Seth!Clearly the snowboarding speed and skill has breshid off on to your blogging perhaps we can coin a new term snowblogging or blogboarding ??Lots of lovely add-ons here!Terrific,Valentina
All I can say is keep it up. this website is so nsacseery in a time when everyone just wants to talk about how many folks someones cheated on their wife with. I mean, thank you for bringing intelligence back to the web, its been sorely missed. Great stuff. Please keep it coming!
Thanks for your encouragement. It has been my desire to be one of the best drummers in Ghana and the World as a whole.
Hello Jared…This is an excellent lesson…particularly the included mp3 play alongs. Can you send me the shorter mp3 play along (with click) that you use in the Video lesson (16 Bars w/ 2 Bar click Intro)
Thanking You In Anticipation
Gavin Kelly 🙂
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awesome lesson!!! you’re the best in the whole wide world! i finally can play my drums now!!!
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