New fills?

[paradiseburned]

I feel like im playing the same old fills over and over again in every song I play. Then I see these guys that have such AWESOME fills with the hand and feet. So i try them, but it's just like... BLAH!
Know what I mean?

So my question is, how do i get new, exciting fills in my back pocket?

I don't know if it's because I listen to alot of punk stuff, and all I hear is a bunch of straight 16th note or 32nd note fills. Could that be it?

Help?

[Redeye]

I will often record myself playing (video, but audio works as well) while just goofing around and hitting things at random. My problem has always been later remembering a good fill I happened to luckily pull off (or almost pull of). The recording lets me watch it a few times and work it out for later.

[rickthedrummer]

The search for new fills goes on.

Even though I played mainly R&R, I would use jazz fills a lot, or jazz styled fills to change the sound.

1 simple example:

Back when I started playing in bands, 1 of the most common fills was, RLRL on the snare, RLRL on the mounted tom, and RLRL on the floor tom. 1 night while playing in the first band I traveled with, I switched it to, RLRL on the snare, RL on the mounted tom, RL on the floor tom, and 4 beats on the BD. The guitar player looked at me like I shot his dog, but, the singer said he liked it, and I slowly started doing fills different than what was expected.

As anyone who has seen my videos knows, I do a lot of cross-sticking. That started out as a young kid showing off, but, as I got into bands after I got out of the service, I would use the cross-sticking to play the fill, but change the accent of the fill.

When 1 band I was in broke up, the bass player and I decided to form our own band and play what we wanted to play. As we would audition people, he would explain to them that what they expect from a drummer is going to be different coming from me. He would say to them,"He will be on the beat, he just gets there from a different direction".

We worked together for almost 2 decades, and he would always say, "You are a jazz drummer, playing R&R, doing jazz fills".

You have to experiment around. Change the sticking on fills. In the beginning, it might not feel right, but, you get used to it and it becomes natural.

[jafo]

Thats whats so much fun about creating fills. To me, the only time a fill doesnt work is when the player misses thier counting. Everything else is fair game to the player. You can take the same fill and change thw tempo qnd have something alittle different, or as Rick memtioned changing the sticking also opens up many possabilties. I also incorperate my cymbals into fills also.

[trickg]

I tend to use a lot of the same fills, which is probably because they work.

Otherwise I say that if you want to improve an aspect of your playing to where it's in your toolbox and becomes second nature, you just need to practice it. Create fills that you think would work, and then work on learning them by playing them over and over and over.

A lot of drumming is not spontaneous at all - it's a very carefully written and structured part, right down to the strokes of fill figures, so don't feel like these are things that you need to be able to play on the fly off of the top of your head.

[inthpktplayer]

Not to beat a dead horse (I know there is an emoticon for that somewhere) or bring up a subject that seems to irritate some people, but, many of the basic rudiments moved around the drumkit produce some very nice fills.

[trickg]

Not to beat a dead horse (I know there is an emoticon for that somewhere) or bring up a subject that seems to irritate some people, but, many of the basic rudiments moved around the drumkit produce some very nice fills.

That's pretty ambiguous. Aside from that, ANY stroke is a rudiment, so in essence, any fill is comprised of basic rudiments moved around the kit, right?

[inthpktplayer]

That's pretty ambiguous. Aside from that, ANY stroke is a rudiment, so in essence, any fill is comprised of basic rudiments moved around the kit, right?

Not going to argue with you. Take it for what it said. If I need to 'splain it to you, you need a lesson.

[rickthedrummer]

That's pretty ambiguous. Aside from that, ANY stroke is a rudiment, so in essence, any fill is comprised of basic rudiments moved around the kit, right?

True, to the proverbial point.

I've played fills where the sticking was something like,


rLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
R R R R
BD BD

Sorry, but I don't write drum notation, but, I think you will get the idea, or how about a paradid then do something different.

Changing the sticking changes the fill.

The above sticking is not how I wrote it. The right hand beats are spread out and the BD is in the middle and at the end.

[pastor_bob]

That's pretty ambiguous. Aside from that, ANY stroke is a rudiment, so in essence, any fill is comprised of basic rudiments moved around the kit, right?

Although this might technically be true, inthpkplayer has a valid point. Many teachers show their students how rudiments can be moved between the drums to produce a fill. It certainly is a good starting point when you are struggling with originality in fills. Hearing how something sounds, can often inspire something original.

[trickg]

Although this might technically be true, inthpkplayer has a valid point. Many teachers show their students how rudiments can be moved between the drums to produce a fill. It certainly is a good starting point when you are struggling with originality in fills. Hearing how something sounds, can often inspire something original.

I think video can be a valuable tool to use as well - often a player can hear it, but they can't visualize how it goes together from a sticking/feet standpoint. If they can see a player do it, then they'll go, "oh yeah! I get it now!"

I wasn't trying to be a jerk about the point made with the the whole "moving rudiments around the kit" bit, but it was ambiguous and it didn't really say anything to someone who might not understand the concept. So many drummers don't really know rudiments - they play by feel and sound alone, so telling them to "move rudiments around the kit" just isn't going to help them.

[dropdtune]

Rudiments at the very least (for me) improved my fluidity and 'sticking' in fills. When started from different points around the kit you can change the same pattern to a different sound (i.e. fill). I found though takes much discipline to move your rudiments from one spot (say on the snare) to many other points around the kit.

But back to the original post, I suggest you even try your "same old fills" but from a different point on the drum set. For years I was using my fave fills starting with the first stroke or two on the snare, then to toms, etc.. It changed noticeably (and a simple change to make) when I simply started same pattern from a high tom, or switched order of toms and snare.

[pastor_bob]

I think video can be a valuable tool to use as well - often a player can hear it, but they can't visualize how it goes together from a sticking/feet standpoint. If they can see a player do it, then they'll go, "oh yeah! I get it now!"

I wasn't trying to be a jerk about the point made with the the whole "moving rudiments around the kit" bit, but it was ambiguous and it didn't really say anything to someone who might not understand the concept. So many drummers don't really know rudiments - they play by feel and sound alone, so telling them to "move rudiments around the kit" just isn't going to help them.

Point well taken trickg. I am a visual learner, as well as an auditory learner, so if I can see it and hear it, I can usually get it. Videos work well, and I often ask my teacher to play something that I might struggle to learn, so I can watch her. The trick is trying to watch all the movements at once. Because it can be sensory overload in real time, I really do like videos/DVD's.

[Larrysperf]

Get yourself the book Groove essentials, It will help you with what you want