Here is a page of fill possibilities within this “beats to fills” framework, outlined at that link. Here the fill portions are two and four 8th notes long. I’ll do a few more pages as necessary, […]
Category: fills
Transcription: Billy Higgins – Blackjack
Billy Higgins playing on a funky vamp with some kicks in it, on Blackjack, from Donald Byrd’s album of the same name. It sticks with the rhythm figure all the way through, and Higgins plays […]
EZ fast rock – 02
The first EZ fast rock page was a hit with my students, so here’s another like it, more in a fill/variation direction. Combining patterns to make two-measure phrases, most of these will be the second […]
Reed tweak: linear fill in another setting
A similar item to another recent thing, with a Reed system I use pretty often, but don’t talk about much— with the hands plaing the book rhythm, and the bass drum filling in the spaces. […]
Reed tweak: BRL linear fill
Fun little item here, modifying the straight 8th right hand lead system commonly applied to the book Syncopation. Where there are two or more 8ths of left hand filler, we’ll play 16ths, starting with a […]
Beats to fills
Here’s a connecter idea, using some rock beats written normally, a la Funky Primer, but playing them as cymbal accents with fills, as in this rock fill drill— hitting accents on the cymbal/bass drum, and […]
Embellished filler with RH lead triplets – 01
I’m pretty sure I’ve written something like this before, but navigating my voluminous archives is no easier for me than it is for you. This is a sketch of some ideas in an upcoming[??? -tb] […]
EZ tom ruff phrases
Here are some more practice phrase ideas for the tom ruffs. This is an underrated item, it should be a lot of fun. Rock out. As the stickings on patterns 1 and 2 indicate, when […]
Rock fills with Reed – 01
Bringing these recent right hand lead Reed tweaks into some basic day to day rock vocabulary. I’ll illustrate these using the tom ruffs we looked at recently— try them with any of the other things […]
Four on the floor
It is said that, on the drum set, there are snare drummers and cymbal players— I would also say there are bass drummers and hihat players. I’ve always been a hihat player— meaning, I’ll often […]
Rhythm fills – dotted quarter and half note space
Minor little item, that can be done by itself as an elementary thing, or that can be used along with Syncopation. I wrote it to work through some fill alternatives within a right hand lead […]
Reed interpretations: tom ruffs
Fun item inspired by watching some Bob Newhart Show reruns— I watched it a lot as a kid, and the drumming on the theme music made an impression well before I started playing. In the […]