THE KIT · TIME FEEL 8 · 4/4

Fills

A fill is a short break from the groove that leads the band into the next section. Most fills come at the end of a phrase, often the fourth or eighth bar, and land on a crash cymbal with the bass drum on beat 1.

This lesson pairs a rock beat with fills of growing difficulty.

Open this feel on the kit →

Reading it

Toms have their own places on the staff: top space = rack tom, second space up = floor tom. The snare stays in the third space up.

The fills here are sixteenth notes, four per beat, so count 1 e & a on the fill beat.

Counting

Count the bars too: 1-2-3-FILL. Play three bars of groove, then the bar with the fill, then crash on the next 1.

The four steps

Each step changes one thing. Get each one comfortable before moving on.

1. Four sixteenths on the snare on beat 4, then crash.Play variation 1 →
2. Two sixteenths on the snare and two on the rack tom.Play variation 2 →
3. Around the kit: two on the rack tom, two on the floor tom.Play variation 3 →
4. A two-beat fill: sixteenths on the snare for beat 3, then toms for beat 4.Play variation 4 →

Common mistakes

• Speeding up in the fill. The fill must take exactly the same time as the beat it replaces.
• Landing late on the crash. Crash and bass drum hit together, right on 1.
• Losing count of the bars. Say 1-2-3-FILL out loud.

Practice plan

5 min	The fill alone, over and over, at 60.
10 min	Three bars of groove plus the fill bar, steps 1 to 3.
5 min	Step 4, the two-beat fill.
5 min	Make up your own fill using snare and toms.

Always start slower than you think you need to. Speed comes from playing it right many times, not from playing it fast once.