One of The 5 Pillars of Drumming™ is vocabulary. In the world of drumming, that mostly translates to drum fills.
Speaking a language is arguably the best general analogy for how drumming works. And if you want to be able to play drum fills at will and without thought (like the way you speak off the the top of your head or how I am writing right now) you simply need to learn and memorize a bunch of fill vocabulary.
Start with some simple drum fills, like those on this page, and work your way up from there. Everyone’s got to start somewhere, right? But one of the important things you’l realize is that simple and easy are not “bad” and not just for beginners. Simple drum fills are used by the pros all the time; so don’t think that just because you’re working on a basic drum fill that you shouldn’t really use it in your playing. Easy or hard doesn’t matter. What matters is how it fits with the music you’re playing.
You’ll find a dozen easy drum fills in this video and the worksheet that accompanies it:
Here are some more beginner level drum fill worksheets to check out (click on the titles to go to the PDFs):
Here’s an article where you’ll learn a massive sounding fill that’s actually completely approachable for beginners: A Massive Drum Fill That Beginners Can Learn (The MANCIE Fill)
You might be wondering, “what is a drum fill, anyway?” Let’s talk about that. A drum fill is a pattern, made of a specific rhythm that is played on specific parts of the drum set. It is intended to sound a particular way and it is a piece of vocabulary the drummer wants to be able to repeat at will. Whether it’s a basic drum fill or an advanced drum fill is of no importance. If it’s specific and it’s meant to “fill-in” a bit of time for the purpose of signaling a change from one section of a song to another, or just to build or release tension for a musical purpose, then it’s probably a drum fill.
If you’ve ever wondered about online drum lessons and whether they’re really a reliable way to learn the drums, I’ve got an answer for you. Just go here to read my article called “Are Online Drum Lessons Worth It?”
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