OK, It's About Time..........

OK, now that I have your attention I have a question and I'm going to try to explain it the best I can. I've been taught that the drummers job is to keep timing for the band, right? So just say you're playing the basic rock beat, 8th on the high hat with the bass on 1 & 3 and the snare on 2 & 4. I understand that a "fill" is a short rhythmic idea played to fill "space" at the end of vocals or instrumental phrase, right? With that said, when a fill is played what keeps timing, the bass?

I know, I know, you veterans are probably having a laugh at this one! LOL

See, I said "it's about time" well it's about "keeping time" to be exact.......

damn fine questions i've been wanting to pose this myself, im almost under the impression its not one particular thing, (i.e bass, snare, toms, hi-hat) maybe its just whatever the hell you want it to be that day

No Drum Chick, Its a perfectly valid question, that I am sure we all asked when we began playing...
Now To Answer...

When playing a fill, it is imparitive to be keeping time, whether or not you do this by bashing out 1 2 3 4 on the bass drum, or 2 and 4 on the hi-hat [pedal] or just with your fill itself, the most important thing is to keep time! Slowing down or dropping a beat is not a good thing [lets just put it that way]. So however you can keep the tempo steady, I say do it! As long as it doesn't involve drooling all over those marvelous drum!:boom-crash: [okay, sorry that was a poor attempt at a joke]

Hope I Could Be Of Assistance!

I try to make my fills less like fills and more like variations to my beat. I'm not good at this konwledge, I've not had any lessons since my first week of playing lol. Hope I could help though lol

-32

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PerpetualFrog

No Drum Chick, Its a perfectly valid question, that I am sure we all asked when we began playing...
Now To Answer...

When playing a fill, it is imparitive to be keeping time, whether or not you do this by bashing out 1 2 3 4 on the bass drum, or 2 and 4 on the hi-hat [pedal] or just with your fill itself, the most important thing is to keep time! Slowing down or dropping a beat is not a good thing [lets just put it that way]. So however you can keep the tempo steady, I say do it! As long as it doesn't involve drooling all over those marvelous drum!:boom-crash: [okay, sorry that was a poor attempt at a joke]

Hope I Could Be Of Assistance!

---

Yes, most helpful........ So a fill can be done using the bass and snare while keeping time with the hi-hat or using the hi-hat and snare while keeping time with the bass? Right?

Also, you want to make sure that the fill fits the song. This takes time to learn. If it doesn't fit, the fill will sound awkward and it may interrupt the flow of the tune.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by drummer

Also, you want to make sure that the fill fits the song. This takes time to learn. If it doesn't fit, the fill will sound awkward and it may interrupt the flow of the tune.

---

Can fills be practiced just using a snare, bass and hi-hat?

Yup yup

Yes Drum Chick, Absolutley.
And just also building on on what Drummer Said^,
It is important not to overplay, so like he said... It won't interupt the flow of the song.
Again, building on what 32nd said,
Basing fills on variations of the actuall rhythm you are playing, this tecnique is really apparent in good 'ol Bonzo's playing. Decent Example, Dyer Make'r. Especially in the transition from section to section, its quite apparent. These to are also great ideas for fills. You might also want to try... Building fills around embellishments that say... The Bass Player has added to his/her playing, thats a great starting point for building up a fill that will fit with the song. Also the timing in which you place your fill is quite important. Say your jamming to a 12 bar blues song, and just three or so bars before the turn around you deside to butt in with a fill, thats a great example of a great time not to exacute a fill. But more often then not you won't need to worry about the fill in correlation with the turn around because more often than not you can 'feel' where to exacute the fill. Drum Chick, you have been blessed as a drummer with an AWESOME POWER we call it Rhythm, use it wisley!!!

If you watch any Chad Smith solos, he completes most of his fills only using his hats, bass, and snare.

This is great stuff, thanks again........

hey drum chick good to meet ya!

ok so ive only been playing for almost 3 years now, but the last year ive seen marked improvement in this area...
for so long i wondered the same thing you are now, how do i know when to come back in?
what helped me, was counting, always counting--doing easy fills, like the basic 8thnote pattern like you said, then going into 1 e and ah all around the kit, from snare to left tom to rite tom to floor tom, then coming back into the 8thnote groove, maybe switching my bass hits around each time...slowly at first and working up speed..

after i did that for, oh, 2 years in my practices, it got way easier, and i could vary my fills up a bit...

im in a band, and that helps ALOT, with the rhythm and knowing that your coming back in on time (they will let you know lol)

the song is most important---you have to figure out the song, get to know it, pet it, learn what it needs from you..then itll tell you when to fill

last thing--listen to every song you hear, commercials, tv theme songs, techno or country, whatever--and try to play it in your head, everytime, this has helped me more than prolly anything, when i listen, i always follow the snare, like on my steering wheel or whatever, and when a fill comes, if i know it ill airdrum it, but illl make sure to always always land back on the snare hit in my air drumming, that way i see if i came in at the rite time or not--

sorry so long, im fairly new myself and figured i could help out on this issue--i like to when i can! but this was such a concern for me too and now ive pretty much conquered it (for now hehe) and i love playing even more now i can jam out!

Thanks lildrummerboi, I very much appreciate your comments!

All this depends on the kind of music, according to jazz, the drummer doesnt just give the rythm or timing, the drummer is an intregal part of the band, he adds soul into the music- this is another level in drumming where not only the piano or sax brings the life in the music, the drums also does!

Hey Drum Chick, when I do a fill I usually keep time with my high hat during the fill ie 4/4 or any variation on it, keeping time like a metronome 1234 during the fill or if it's in 6/8 123456 or 7/8 one, two, three, four, five, six, sev don't count the en then you'll get off.
danthedrumman