Don’t Forget the Feeling
There are many reasons why someone wants to play the drums. I started playing because I love music and rhythm. I loved the way the drums made me feel when I listened to them in a song. In fact, when I was growing up, I was so focused on the drums and melody, I didn’t realize the importance of the words in a song.
I think most drummers start playing because they “feel” the music of drums. It’s very rare that someone starts playing the drums because they read about the drums or are inspired by a sheet of drum music. However, in order to become a better player, you eventually must learn to read drum music and start to focus on improving your technique.
The challenge is to continue to learn and grow as a player without losing the feeling of why you chose to play the drums. It’s a delicate balance but you must never forget that the drums are about feeling and tempo and playing with the other members in your band. Keep this in mind as you learn how to read drum fill music.
A Short Review of How to Read Drum Music
Let’s review for a second.
- In “Should You Learn How to Read Drum Music?” we covered the importance of learning to read drum music.
- “5 Key Parts of Drum Music Notation – Boring!” introduced you to the symbols (not cymbals) used on a music staff for drum music.
- You learned about note and rest values in “How to Read Musical Notes and Rests.”
- In “The Key to Reading Drum Music” you learned how drums and cymbals (yes, cymbals) are represented on a musical staff. You also read and played a basic drum beat.
In this lesson you’ll put all this knowledge together plus learn how to read drum fills.
How to Read Drum Fills
Let’s start by playing the drum beat from “The Key to Reading Drum Music“:
- Set your metronome at 60 beats per minute (bpm).
- Tap your sticks together 4 times as you count to 4.
- Start playing the drum beat as you count out loud.
- Play the beat until you feel comfortable and are playing with the pulse of the metronome.
Now let’s add a drum fill:
Play the drum beat as before only this time play eighth notes on the snare drum the last two beats of the second measure when you count “3-and-4-and.” Start playing the eighth note fill with your right hand and alternate between right and left. Continue playing the beat right after the fill.
Next, let’s try a sixteenth note fill on the snare drum:
Play the drum beat as before only this time play sixteenth notes on the snare drum the last two beats of the second measure when you count “3-e-&-a-4-e-&-a.” Start playing the sixteenth note fill with your right hand and alternate between right and left. Continue playing the beat right after the fill.
Now try a sixteenth note fill on the snare and toms:
Play the drum beat as before only this time play 4 sixteenth notes on the snare drum (“3-e-&-a”), 2 sixteenth notes on the left rack tom (“4-e”) and 2 sixteenth notes on the floor tom (“&-a”). Start playing the sixteenth note fill with your right hand and alternate between right and left. Continue playing the beat right after the fill.
One final twist for this lesson: Let’s change up the bass drum pattern and increase the tempo.
See if you can figure this out without too much instruction. If you have trouble, remember to play the beat without the fill. Start with the bass drum, add the hi-hat, then add the left hand and, finally, the right hand. Once you can play the basic beat, add the fill. Then gradually increase the tempo to 120 beats per minute.
This beat and fill can be played to one of the best feeling songs from the Memphis Stax record era: “Soul Man” by Sam and Dave with the legendary session drummer Al Jackson, Jr. “Soul Man” can be heard on a collection of 50 Stax hits: “Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration” which has many great play-along tunes.
The tempo for “Soul Man” is about 112 beats per minute and the drum beat is very similar to what you’ve played. Give it a try!
So when you are reading notes from a page of paper, imagine that you are the drummer who created the beat and did the original recording (maybe it was you!). This will help you add some feeling as you play drum music. Read music to learn a song but once you’ve learned it, focus on making it feel good!