difference between licks, fills, chops

[groovearteest]

I was wondering what exactly is the difference between the three. I have heard it explained a few times before, but never really understood the difference. So can someone explain it to me as plainly as possible.

[yohin]

A fill is something different you play to break up the regular drum beat or accent the end of a bar.

I think of a "lick" as the drum equivalent of a "riff" in guitar terminology. Basically any little piece of drum playing, whether it's a fill, part of a groove, repeating pattern, etc.

"Chops" I've always thought of as technical skill. If you say someone has great chops, they have a high level of proficiency when playing drums.

I am not saying these are the "right" answers, but this is how I would define those terms.

[kay-gee]

Yohin's basically got it I think, but the terms are inter-changeable to some degree. I've heard all these terms used by members on here in discussing aspects of drumming.

all the best...

[drummer]

Licks and Fills are basically the same. Chops refers to the whole thing.
If someone says, "Man, that drummer has a lot of chops!", it means the drummer has a lot of licks and fills (and beats).

[Jackie]

A lick is a melodic pattern, as a drummer it would be the different drums you use when creating a sticking phrase or pattern, example: triplets between toms and bass drum, you know the Bonham groove. A riff is actually related to guitars, even though its used by drummers. The difference between a lick or a riff is a riff is also a melodic repeated pattern of notes and also chords, which you cant do with drums. Think of the guitar riff: Smoke on the river by deep purple, thats a chord riff pattern.

A fill (sometimes called a break) is when you have an empty space, such as one measure space in a song and everybody else stops playing and its your space. You fill that space with your drumming and everybody starts playing again.

You can also fill space when everybody is playing. If the song sounds empty, not full enough you can fill the emptiness with more drumming. Usually if you play in a rock trio, You get alittle creative and try and play more to add a sense of fuller sound, by adding small or large fills during the song.

Chops is the level and ability of how each drummer can use his/her sticks. Some drummers have great single stroke rolls, other great double stroke rolls.

[keysanddrums]

As far as I understand:

Chops = Technique (The saying is you go practicing at the woodshed, so I'm assuming once you've been at the woodshed enough you can chop any piece of wood you come across. I think it's a part of that woodshed saying.)

Licks = A pattern that makes other musicians/the audience go "holy cow, that lick was sweet!" These generally are musically relevant, and in context with the song. A lot of these get you to the center of a tootsie pop, though the exact amount that it takes is currently undocumented.

Fills = That thing you do with your drums to transition from one section to another (or just to show off, depending on your ego). Fills can be musically relevant, terrible, or any combination. They can be licks or not, depending on how central they are to the song.

In other words, it doesn't really matter. These are just terms invented so drummers can feel cooler when they talk to each other.