426 – [Daniel Glass Show]: Playing Better Fills

In this episode, Daniel looks at count offs and fills, and explains why a deeper understanding of these “musical transitions”  can make all the difference between a good drummer and a great one.

What’s covered in this session:

• Count Offs:
  • Why this incredibly important aspect of our job tends to be so problematic for drummers.
  • Why count offs should be practiced, just like grooves or fills.
  • Four different ways to lock into the tempo BEFORE you starting counting
  • How to properly count off so the whole band will be with you from the first beat.
• Fills:
  • Too often we think of fills or other transitions as something other than timekeeping – so we don’t practice them in the context of the music.
  • The solution is to start slowly, adding very basic fills that arise out of  timekeeping.
  • Dividing fills into either straight eight or swung categories so they can be practiced in different musical situations.
  • Some key elements to focus on when playing cymbal crashes.
  • Remember that the crash on the end of every fill is actually beat ONE of the following bar, and must be simultaneously connected as part of the timekeeping.

Resources/Links/People Mentioned:

• Peter Erskine’s excellent DVD, Everything is Timekeeping.
• The Daniel Glass Show Episode 347 discusses how playing slowly and simply can help us gain more clarity and consistency when it comes to playing both time and fills.
• The Daniel Glass Show Episode 355 shares how to develop our PULSE  to a level that fills will not separate us from it.
• Here is a page of basic but extremely important transitional fills featured in Daniel and Zoro’s book “The Commandments of Early Rhythm and Blues Drumming. You can order the book here.