In this free fill construction lesson you will be learning patterns using flat flams in an eighth note triplet rhythm. In these examples you will be moving in blocks of four, with two hands played on the hands followed by two on the feet. The two voices have very different tonal qualities and when combined create a nice full sound. It is important the flat flams are played exactly in time, there are links to other free fill construction lessons at the bottom of the page that will help with this.
The fill construction examples given below should be used as a starting point to create your own versions of the part. The simple hand movements make it quite easy to create melodic fills, and if you combine this with rhythms given in other lessons gives you a whole bunch of options. As I always say, start out slow and make sure the placement of all strokes is accurate then speed up when you are comfortable with the movement. As the speed gets higher, the stamina drain on the right foot increases. Keep your leg relaxed from the hip down to make the movement easier.
Free Fill Construction Lesson 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Free Fill Construction Lesson 6
Example 7
Example 8
Example 9
Free Fill Construction Lesson 10
TASK:
- Learn all examples up to a tempo of at least 130bpm.
- Apply different orchestrations to create your own parts.
- Extend the fill to being a full bar pattern.
- Add groove into the part and create some longer phrases.
- Look through some of our other free fill construction lesson content.
