Stuck in a drum fill rut

kuren84

Senior Member
Hi all i just wanted to share with you a thought. I was drumming yesterday and found myself doing the same fills over and over. I started to wonder at what point did i stop varying my fills. I can play lots of fills but never seem to use them. I was then wondering if it was because the sort of music i play doesn't call for them and then i was wondering if i should of bothered with them in the first place. So do any of you guys and gals find this and is there a way/exercise to mix up your fills.
Thanks
Kevin
 
I can play lots of fills but never seem to use them.

In which case, you're probably making musical decisions that are appropriate to the music you're playing. That's called musicality. Unless the music demands constant reinvention, such as in Jazz (and even then players fall back on trademark licks when on autopilot), I don't see what the problem is.

I always take a mathematical approach when trying to figure out fills for a new/unfamiliar pattern. I work backwards from the last beat, looking at all the permutations available and make a note (mental and literal) of the ones that appeal, then practice them until they're second nature. You've probably done all that though.
 
I think it's more a matter of ease. The human brain works like a pattern recognition machine, and you can think of it like the most commonly used patterns are being most easily activated. You can train this only by consciously using new fills when playing as often as possible, and with time you'll learn to integrate them while improvising. It's really just a matter of practicing.
Of course I also want to refer to a pretty cool app which might be of help for you to get new ideas https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.fussinetz.mkdrumsFree :)
But I mean, in the end, one way of practiving might be to start some tune, preferably start with a low bpm one, and then improvise like 3 bars groove followed by one bar fill-in and try to play each time a (completely) different fill then before. It takes some conscious effort, but it's probably a pretty effective way.
 
Are you looking at fills playing with a band or just when practicing?

Two totally different beasts.

If just for practice, I'd follow whats already been mentioned as in breaking things down, making notes where applicable and practicing at a slow BPM rate to build the muscle memory before picking up the pace so it becomes second nature. I'd also play along to drumless tracks you know, and make the conscious effort to play all the fills in a different way than on the original recording. For me, this approach made me listen to what was going on in the music more, rather than just switching off and playing the song.

For a band, it has to be for the music. I've gone from playing in a Progressive Rock band, with all the usual odd-time signature bells & whistles to a Surf Rock band; 4/4 all the way. At rehearsals I have tried to mix it up and throw in some 'different' fills, but I have realised that what fits are single stroke rolls, the odd flam and, one occasion only, doubles on the toms. Anything else, even triplets, just doesn't work within the music. Yes I am playing the same fill for around 85% of the set, but it works, and the audience are just as happy.
 
Many drummers are recognizable because of their drum fills, and they tend to use them in a varied style of music too, although they use more than just one drum fill, obviously, but most of their fills are instantly recognizable.

Having said that, it's human nature that you play the same fills over and over, you've learned and played them so much, they're part of your metabolism, when you play a fill, they come out naturally, the only way to come out of this rut, is to be conscious of it and work towards creating new fills.

But depending on the style of music you play, you'll find out that the grooves and fills are very similar from one song to another, drumming wise, the "changes" being felt by the other instruments/vocals.
 
Thanks everyone some great points and i will take time to read them all carefully and consider them all. Thank you all.
Kevin
 
I recommend internalizing the table of time so that every subdivision is at your disposal

this will induce creativity

you will even be able to take that one fill.... subdivide it many different ways and get more milage out of a sticking combination that feels natural to you without sounding like you are repeating the same phrase
 
Good advice so far - If worst comes to worst, I saw a John Entwhistle interview where he smilingly said that Keith just played one fill over and over, so it's not the end of the world ...

If what you do works with the vocals, lyrics and mood it doesn't much matter if you play zero fills, let alone the same ones. How many fills did Phil Rudd and Meg White play in their entire careers? Maybe three by Phil in self indulgent moments?

Some fill ideas off the top of my head:

- goosing up the bass accents
- play a little tune
- different places to the end of the 4/8/16
- Ringo / Moon Q/A with vocals
- rather than replace the groove, add to it (like shifting your hands from cymbal/snare to toms)
- no fills - keep it smooth
- crash at the start of a fill or within the fill
- double crash at the end of fill
- end with a flam instead of a crash
- finish the fill early and slip back into the groove just before the one (this helps keep things smooth)
- leave a space to allow another instrument to be part of the fill
- playing over the bar line
- Afrrrica mon
- what would Purdie/Charlie/Gadd/Ringo/Bonzo/ do?

In the end, no fill is better than a dodgy one, unless you're in a band where everyone is improvising and pushing to the limit.
 
I play a lot of pop punk and you hear a lot of the same fills in various songs, I find it hard to break out of playing the same linear fills all the time, maybe you could try incorporating the bass drum or cymbals more, or A COWBELL
 
I recommend internalizing the table of time so that every subdivision is at your disposal

this will induce creativity

you will even be able to take that one fill.... subdivide it many different ways and get more milage out of a sticking combination that feels natural to you without sounding like you are repeating the same phrase

I think this is how I look at it too. Since I always know where each part of the beat is, I can basically do anything I want within the space I'm going to fill. One of my favorite things to do is actually leave some of that space and just put interesting stuff in there. A fill doesn't have to be a roll, and it can even just be something like displacing a part of the beat you were just playing.

Have fun. Try to avoid having a "quiver" of fills that you do. Instead, play what the music tells you might sound neat and appropriate.
 
Are you looking at fills playing with a band or just when practicing?

Two totally different beasts......

For a band, it has to be for the music.

Agreed. It's easy to play the same fills when you are alone practicing. I've crystallized my fill philosophy to 2 guidelines. If I'm covering a tune, I have to do all the necessary fills, if any. That's easy, I'm replicating their stuff. If we are doing originals, or remakes our way, I totally base my fills on the other players. I just listen to them and if I feel it I play it, otherwise I am keeping the groove simmering. Nothing pre planned as far as fills go whatsoever. I can tell when fills are pre planned because they stick out instead of melt in. Fills should be spontaneous and based on what is going on.

My main band's guitarist leads me on a merry chase sometimes, it's always pretty high level stuff with him, so there is no pre planning of fills, the only thing you can do is listen hard and react quick. Just last night he stuck a portion of The Beatle's "Baby You Can Drive My Car" (which I never played with him prior, he just assumes I know everything) right in the middle of "Mustang Sally"....For a few seconds I was like what song is he doing?

I think going into a song with an agenda to pull off a certain fill is a bad way to approach the song. Playing accents, defining the song structure, whatever that may entail, marking chord changes with a simple crash...I don't consider them fills. That's where I concentrate my focus, on the structure, the chord changes, accents, and keeping it smooth and flowing. Fills are pretty much the last thing on my list of priorities, as they tend to disrupt the flow, at least in my world of groove based music. The richness of the beat and the support of the others deserves the lions share of the focus, fills are maybe 2% of what I play.

I like the guys that try so hard to do "cool" fills during the song, disrupting the groove, then at the endings, when it would really sound good for them to cut loose, they just putz out. Lol. Wrong priorities. Fills don't define the drummer, I'll never agree with that statement, it's a drummers feel that defines the drummer.
 
I get this problem a lot too. I have excellent advanced rudimentary skills and very smooth hands but when it comes to drum fills or solos, I am a total beginner. It's embarrassing and annoying. Most of my interesting fills are by way of an accident. The worst is when I learn an incredible groove and need some complimentary fills, I will throw out what sounds like a rabid monkey locked in the drum section at guitar center.

I'm of no help but I wanted to join in hearing what others have to say about this.

One thing I think that is over looked is playing with the click. You've got to start slow. Like someone else said muscle memory is what you're up against, not necessarily brain comprehension of fills (or groove for that matter). You can audibly speak fills all day but until you train and combat your muscle memory, they won't settle in. ALWAYS start slow and ALWAYS challenge it to a faster click speed.

That's just my thoughts on the matter. Thinking too mathematically, for me, leads to over linear sounding fills. Not my cup of tea but to each their own.
 
Thinking too mathematically, for me, leads to over linear sounding fills. Not my cup of tea but to each their own.

It's just a tool: a way of exploring possibilities by looking at all the mathematical permutations/variations within each beat. At the end of the day, you get to decide whether any of it is musical (and also how you use the permutations that you like).

This approach introduces you to new ideas and gets you out of ruts. If you have an intuitive feel for music, and are creative, you'll use it musically.
 
I know where you are with this and my rule to combat it is less is more. Throw in a really simple one.
 
some of my favorite fills include a hi hat bark between snare and tom hits. I am working on a couple but its more just sorting out the timing as you are usually playing faster than the beat in these fills.
 
Here's one way I like to approach this topic to assist in expanding on new ideas.

Take a snare drum solo and make them the fills integrated within the time.

Here's an old sample I did for a student to get an idea of this. Heck, I don't even own the Sonor drums any longer in this clip.

May or may not help, I don't know: http://youtu.be/AZ_U-Y2cTJ4
 
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Hi all i just wanted to share with you a thought. I was drumming yesterday and found myself doing the same fills over and over. I started to wonder at what point did i stop varying my fills. I can play lots of fills but never seem to use them. I was then wondering if it was because the sort of music i play doesn't call for them and then i was wondering if i should of bothered with them in the first place. So do any of you guys and gals find this and is there a way/exercise to mix up your fills.
Thanks
Kevin

Don't know whether this would work for you....it changed my drumming miraculously.

When I was struggling (not just with fills but with acoustic setup to, having moved across from E Drums to A for live gigs) I moved away from three toms to a two tom setup. One rack and on floor tom.

It's not only 'tightened' up my drumming, perhaps because it's a better setup with better access to my cymbals (I am very cymbals oriented), but it's also sped up my transfer from rack to floor tom and back.

Critically though, whilst I felt I would struggle with fills, the fills I'm playing now are infinitely more interesting and varied than they were....it's FORCED me onto floor tom more when previously I think I was perhaps falling into a bit of laziness and focusing on rack toms.

It's a strange thing really...even the rest of the band have commented that my drumming seems to have taken a leap forward since the change (ps. they were complimentary before the change to be fair to them !!).

Try it...you might be surprised.

Please ignore me if I'm talking crap

:)
 
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