It’s always time to practice, transcriptions can give you new ideas to develop your drumming. Inspired by a drum lick played by Carlos Vega on the drum solo of “Oasis” by Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour, here’s a drum fill that can be applied in a great variety of styles. Something that will inspire you. In case you missed it the drum solo transcription for “Oasis” is available for free.
The first two beats are based essentially on a group of 3 notes, repeated two times and played starting from the second 16th note after the bass drum. The group is composed of two 32nd notes played on the tom, and two 16th notes respectively on the tom and snare. The last two beats are a classic 16th notes fill, with the same concept discussed above, in this case, the group of 3 notes is composed of two 16th notes and a rest.
One way to develop and interiorize this drum fill is to play the first two beats and improvise on the third and fourth beat, playing your own ideas. One suggestion is to play the group of 3 notes over and over to complete the bar, as shown in the image below. Try different combinations at different tempos, applying the fill in different styles. Keep on drumming!
Francis' Drumming Blog 
One thought on “A Fill for Every Season #1”