Drum fills and rolls

frebrd

Junior Member
Hi all new around here and seems like a nice site. I have been a off and on drummer for several years now and played in a couple different bands. My problem is i have a kinda difficult time going into drum fills and rolls! I can hold a perfect time and have no problems in that at all, but when it comes to doing a fill i tend to freeze up and they usually sound horrible! I think i know what to do but i just kinda lock up and i really hate it. Is there somekind of excersises i should be workin on to get over this? When i play out it is not a problem with "stagefright" or any thing i am really calm when playing, but its just those darn rolls! Any advice available will be greatly appreciated. Rock On! Thanx
 
I dunno, I asked about fills alot when I started drumming too, since they're a pretty appealing aspect of drumset. As far I understand fills now though, I mean usually people think of them as those long 32nd rolls going from hi to low tom but they can be just about anything, even a measure of rest. But the fills people usualy think of are in fast subdivions and 16th triplet/32nd note
 
It might be kind of redundant to even say this, but I think it's a matter of practice. I also have good timing but for a while had a hard time incorporating fills into my sets. I practiced by keeping a basic rock beat for 4 beats and then making up a fill for the next 4. I'd do that for hours and see how many cool combinations I could come up with. Then maybe switch it to 8 beats on, 8 beats off, etc. That way it gets you comfortable with throwing the sticks all over the set without losing track of that basic pulse, whether you're losing it mentally or just physically like I was. Also practicing your basic rudiments is huge in getting the fills down, because it will get the hand motion to the point of being second nature and then it's just a matter of moving your arms around to hit different combos of drums. Hopefully this helps out a bit.
 
A very helpful thing you can do is listen to music. By listening to the music itself, you'll hear other drummers' fills, and you will incorporate that into your drumming naturally.

I am very influenced by John Bonham, and i tend to do a lot of his type of fills when i play. Try it, I guarantee that your fills will improve.
 
It might be kind of redundant to even say this, but I think it's a matter of practice. I also have good timing but for a while had a hard time incorporating fills into my sets. I practiced by keeping a basic rock beat for 4 beats and then making up a fill for the next 4. I'd do that for hours and see how many cool combinations I could come up with. Then maybe switch it to 8 beats on, 8 beats off, etc. That way it gets you comfortable with throwing the sticks all over the set without losing track of that basic pulse, whether you're losing it mentally or just physically like I was. Also practicing your basic rudiments is huge in getting the fills down, because it will get the hand motion to the point of being second nature and then it's just a matter of moving your arms around to hit different combos of drums. Hopefully this helps out a bit.

more than a bit :) good advice dude
 
The less fills a drummer plays, the better most people like that drummer. The beat and the drummers feel is what gets you hired. That said, if you have as perfect time as you say, and you're going off on your fills, you don't have perfect time. Perfection doesn't exist in nature.

There are no shortcuts.

You identify a problem, and you focus on it until it's not a problem anymore.
On to the next problem area.
Start with just 1 fill. Spending an hour getting one fill mastered will make you a better drummer much faster than spending that hour practicing 5 fills but mastering none.
 
I have the same problem as you do. My grooves are allright and are improving at a fast pace but my fills are more or less the same as they were last year. I just hate it when I get into a groove, have funky ghosts and hi-hat accents flying all over the place and then drop the ball on a simple fill.

I'm trying to clean my fills up by doing some simple exercises

1. Part of the problem is moving around the kit. To help remedy this I'll be doing singles around the kit. With accents. Stuff like:

RlrLrlRlrLrl or RLrLRlRLrLRlRLrL

Later adding paradiddles as well.

2. Another problem is playing a fill and not getting back to the same groove. To help remedy this I'll start playing 4 bar phrases with the last bar being a fill. everything to a click at first or 3 bars of click and 1 bar of silence

3. Playing along and listening to music. Fills need to be appropriate. Only way to know when to play what is to listen and play along.
 
A very helpful thing you can do is listen to music. By listening to the music itself, you'll hear other drummers' fills, and you will incorporate that into your drumming naturally.

I am very influenced by John Bonham, and i tend to do a lot of his type of fills when i play. Try it, I guarantee that your fills will improve.

John Bonham?great player!
I like him too
 
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