Super Fill

I always feel a bit conflicted about stuff like this.

It seems to me that drumming is continually going further and further in this direction where it's about memorizing these short linear patterns. You work these short patterns up to speed, you regurgitate them, and you end up with something "impressive." It's "impressive" because the end result is visually a blur of sticks, and auditorily a blur of sound.

Unfortunately, to me at least, it's rarely a genuinely interesting rhythmic phrase.

When I first heard Krupa's solo on Drum Boogie (the JATP version), I was immediately struck by the little phrases that he created with the accents. To this day, decades later, I can still sing the beginning of that solo to myself. It was basically a song.

And the same can be said of the solos from Bonham and Roy and Max...etc. etc. etc.

As Todd pointed out, Gadd plays things like what is demonstrated in this video. However, when Gadd does so, it's done in such a way that it's an actual musical phrase...connected to other musical phrases. Perhaps that's how the lady in this video uses the lick as well. I hope so.

Unfortunately, taking it out of context and showing it as she does runs the risk of giving people a false idea of what drumming is actually about.
 
This is cool I do alot of inside 5s and doubles on the kick but never found a way of incorporating them. You probably wouldnt see this in a jazz context but working on it is only gonna help your chops.
 
I think as an exercise this is fine. Definitely nothing wrong with practicing various fills (in addition to grooves) to work up your facility behind the kit.

However, learning something like this just to regurgitate it later into a song is just the wrong way to approach drumming, because that has nothing to do with musicianship. When I’m coming up with parts for original music, any time I play a fill it’s because the music is saying to me that a fill is needed and the music pretty much dictates how that fill comes out of me. In other words, there are never any “premeditated” fills that I try to fit in somewhere (though if I come up with one I like in a particular spot, I’ll try to remember that fill and play it there again).

So for me, the usefulness of videos like this really depends on how you intend to use it.
 
Years ago I read a Casey Scheurell article showing you how to develop a phrase similar to the lick above, in a musical way. It went something like - for every 1/8 note play KRL for every 1/8 note rest, play RLL. So a 1/4 note would be KRLRLL. If you use something like Reed's Syncopation to get some rhythms going - the melody line is defined by the Kick.

I found this approach easier than forcing the issue with a static lick.
 
I always feel a bit conflicted about stuff like this.

It seems to me that drumming is continually going further and further in this direction where it's about memorizing these short linear patterns. You work these short patterns up to speed, you regurgitate them, and you end up with something "impressive." It's "impressive" because the end result is visually a blur of sticks, and auditorily a blur of sound.

Unfortunately, to me at least, it's rarely a genuinely interesting rhythmic phrase.

When I first heard Krupa's solo on Drum Boogie (the JATP version), I was immediately struck by the little phrases that he created with the accents. To this day, decades later, I can still sing the beginning of that solo to myself. It was basically a song.

And the same can be said of the solos from Bonham and Roy and Max...etc. etc. etc.

As Todd pointed out, Gadd plays things like what is demonstrated in this video. However, when Gadd does so, it's done in such a way that it's an actual musical phrase...connected to other musical phrases. Perhaps that's how the lady in this video uses the lick as well. I hope so.

Unfortunately, taking it out of context and showing it as she does runs the risk of giving people a false idea of what drumming is actually about.
Interesting - I've often wondered how many impressive licks it's possible to memorise and how much use they actually are - beyond good coordination practice.
 
I think as an exercise this is fine. Definitely nothing wrong with practicing various fills (in addition to grooves) to work up your facility behind the kit.

However, learning something like this just to regurgitate it later into a song is just the wrong way to approach drumming, because that has nothing to do with musicianship. When I’m coming up with parts for original music, any time I play a fill it’s because the music is saying to me that a fill is needed and the music pretty much dictates how that fill comes out of me. In other words, there are never any “premeditated” fills that I try to fit in somewhere (though if I come up with one I like in a particular spot, I’ll try to remember that fill and play it there again).

So for me, the usefulness of videos like this really depends on how you intend to use it.
The Patchwork Quilt approach to playing sounds disastrous to me too!
 
When I first heard Krupa's solo on Drum Boogie (the JATP version), I was immediately struck by the little phrases that he created with the accents. To this day, decades later, I can still sing the beginning of that solo to myself. It was basically a song.

And the same can be said of the solos from Bonham and Roy and Max...etc. etc. etc.

As Todd pointed out, Gadd plays things like what is demonstrated in this video. However, when Gadd does so, it's done in such a way that it's an actual musical phrase...connected to other musical phrases. Perhaps that's how the lady in this video uses the lick as well. I hope so.
Yeah, I actually thought this particular fill sounded a lot better when she was playing it way slower. That fast and it's just a sheet of sound. At about the halfway point, it sounded crazy tasty.
 
Years ago I read a Casey Scheurell article showing you how to develop a phrase similar to the lick above, in a musical way. It went something like - for every 1/8 note play KRL for every 1/8 note rest, play RLL. So a 1/4 note would be KRLRLL. If you use something like Reed's Syncopation to get some rhythms going - the melody line is defined by the Kick.

I found this approach easier than forcing the issue with a static lick.
Gordy Knudtson has an entire book dedicated to developing vocabulary in exactly this way.
 
Something I've been wondering about after watching and practicing so many "10 Simple FIlls", "12 Beginning Fills Every Drummer Should Know", etc, etc, etc. Why do I never hear this shite in pop songs - ever? What I hear are very simple grooves with very sparse and simple fills. Yes, there are a few songs with more than that. But I'm talking about the major proportion of popular music through the ages. Could these "Must Masters" really be ego trips for the Youtube "teachers"? I currently practice them for warm up and to develop precision. I doubt I'll ever try and fit them into music I'm playing with. My fills seem to come out spontaneously and aren't necessarily exactly the same every time. Maybe I'm doing this all wrong - but it's sure more fun.
 
To the naysayers, I couldn't disagree more... These things are fragments - snippets. I call them "germs" - I guess we could easily compare them to rudiments. I would venture that the lion's share of my drumming vocabulary was developed from me latching this little germ or that little germ, that heard on some record; learning it; seeing where else I could apply it. And eventually ending up trying to figure else how else I could use.... what variations I could create from....

Like wth this one.... it's 16th note triplets as presented played on the beat. How about starting on the & instead? How about playing it as 12 sixteenth notes instead. (Start on 2 to end on 1). Too slow? Then make it 32nd notes.... to end on 1, the first 6 notes would start on the &of3 and the second 6 would start on the E of 4. But of course, we would have to end on 1. But any where we want or need to.

Go back to 16th note triplets - maybe keep the first 6 notes and shorten the second half to just three notes (R L F) making RLLRRL RLF... so now instead two beats long it would be a beat and a half. Or play the whole thing - but start on the second 6. Or think of it as three germs - two that are one beat long.... RLLRRL and RLRLFF and a third germ that's half a beat long.... RLF.... Now string them together in whatever combination works for what you are trying to convey. Maybe a two bar fill.... sounding first on the beat, then off the beat (so the accents are 1 2 3 4& & & & &1.... RLLRRL | RLRLFF | RLLRRL | RLF RLL|RRL RLR|LFF RLL|RRL RLL|RRL RLF | 1

IMO it's what we do... we steal licks, derive new licks from them, and use them in ways that appeal our tastes.... creating a unique vocabulary, which in many ways reveals our personal style.

(It all reminds of how Gadd took Cobham's herts thing and made it a hands and feet thing, while shifting the starting note to the left one note. Billy = RLR L RLR L 1&2 3 1&2 3 Gadd = F RLR F RLR 1 2&3 1 2&3
 
A free drum lesson available to access 24/7 at the tips of our fingers?? I'll take all I can get.

Some remember at time when this didn't exist.
I sometimes think about how differently my life might have turned out if I'd had access to this sort of information when I was 15.
Then I remember that everyone else also would have had it, so my life probably wouldn't have turned out significantly different.
And I like my life. So that's okay.
 
I always feel a bit conflicted about stuff like this.

It seems to me that drumming is continually going further and further in this direction where it's about memorizing these short linear patterns. You work these short patterns up to speed, you regurgitate them, and you end up with something "impressive." It's "impressive" because the end result is visually a blur of sticks, and auditorily a blur of sound.

Unfortunately, to me at least, it's rarely a genuinely interesting rhythmic phrase.

When I first heard Krupa's solo on Drum Boogie (the JATP version), I was immediately struck by the little phrases that he created with the accents. To this day, decades later, I can still sing the beginning of that solo to myself. It was basically a song.

And the same can be said of the solos from Bonham and Roy and Max...etc. etc. etc.

As Todd pointed out, Gadd plays things like what is demonstrated in this video. However, when Gadd does so, it's done in such a way that it's an actual musical phrase...connected to other musical phrases. Perhaps that's how the lady in this video uses the lick as well. I hope so.

Unfortunately, taking it out of context and showing it as she does runs the risk of giving people a false idea of what drumming is actually about.
It depends on what people got into drumming for, if they just want to impress people, this may be the way to go, if they really want to learn then not. I believe nobody will be getting the wrong idea unless they choose to just learn some licks like the above to try to sound impressive.
IMO it is much more impressive when a drummer (or any other musician) just grooves (regardless of the music speed) When the playing is fitting to the rest of the instruments, basically highlights other instruments when needed by giving them some space, accents when needed and so on, when the band as a whole just play tight like this guys here:

 
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