096 [#AskRuffini] – Independence, creativity, fills around the kit and playing for free

This is a new series called #AskRuffini.  I get a ton of emails, messages, tweets, etc asking all sorts of questions ranging from “How can I practice better?” to “What’s your favorite food?” and everything in between.  Rather than replying to the messages individually I want these answers to benefit everyone in the Drummer’s Resource Community, so I decided to add them to the podcast.

Have Questions?  There are a few ways to submit them:

1. Send a message on the Contact Page or email me: Questions[at]DrummersResource[dot]com
2. Send me a message on Facebook
3. Tweet me and use the hashtag #AskRuffini

And now, the questions:

My current struggle with drumming is creativity. I find that I’m playing many of the same fills although there are a few songs that my band plays where I make it a point to explore and change up the fills. This keeps it more interesting and allows me to be creative.

-John

I am a fairly new drummer. I have issues separating my bass drum foot from my high hat hits (right hand) on certain songs that have extra bass beats

-Brian

The main issues Im have is adding fast or quick drum fills into my playing. I get a nice beat going and when I try to add a quick fill such as triplets or other quick fills I lose it.

-John

How do you feel about businesses that hire you for exposure only? How do you Handle that situation?

-Daniel