The drum fill for this new episode involves displacing a drum phrase over the beat. As shown in the figure below, the main idea consists of three 8th notes: two 16th notes on the tom, one 8th note on the floor tom, and one 8th note on the snare in unison with the crash cymbal. The phrase is repeated two times to complete the measure, ending with the crash cymbal in unison with the bass drum in the next measure. Let’s start!
- The first step is to play the drum fill slowly and memorize the orchestration. Counting out loud and playing the left-foot hi-hat in quarter notes is essential to understanding how the phrase moves over the beat. In the beginning, playing with the metronome is very helpful.
- Next, apply the drum fill by playing three bars of groove and one bar of fill. Experiment with different tempos and styles.
As further suggestions, try repeating the drum phrase for two bars (as shown in the figure below) and three bars. The phrase placement will shift with each repetition, aligning with different beats and moving over the barline. Again, counting and feeling the beat is essential if you don’t want to get lost!
You can use the same concept to play your ideas. For example, playing the first note on the snare, reversing the phrase starting with the snare + crash cymbal followed by the toms, or playing new ideas based on three 8th notes. Here’s my demonstration of the drum fill at two different tempos.
Francis' Drumming Blog 