Half Bar Fills Using One 16th Note Grouping

In this lesson you will continue learning about creating fills using Groupings Of Sixteenth Notes, this time by applying different groupings to a half bar fill in 4/4. The rhythms and orchestrations used will be very similar to those in our One Beat Fills Using 16th Note Groupings lesson so I advise you read through this first.

On this page you will be presented with exercises that are a bar of music made up of two beats worth of groove and two beats worth of of fill. The rhythm for this fill will be one of the sixteenth note groupings played on the snare twice. You will then be given two further examples of this fill orchestrated around the kit in various ways. For each example you will be shown a version with both crotchet and quaver hi hats. The aim here is to familiarize you both with the length of fill and the idea of using different rhythms to construct fills.

Fill 1

The first fill is built from This Rhythm. It looks like this:

Note that the hi hat is left on beat 3 making the pattern more like a group of straight 16ths, this can be removed if you wish.

Orchestration 1

Split the three 16ths in a group of one followed by a group of two.

Orchestration 2

Using a different orchestration for the two groupings.

Fill 2

The second fill is built from This Rhythm. It looks like this:

Orchestration 1

Split the eighth note and two sixteenth notes between two different parts of the kit.

Orchestration 2

Play a flam on the first eighth note, a floor tom on the second eighth note and all other notes on the snare.

Fill 3

The third fill is built from This Rhythm. It looks like this:

Orchestration 1

Orchestrate between two different drums.

Orchestration 2

Using an odd sticking to move every other note around the toms.

Fill 4

The third fill is built from This Rhythm. It looks like this:

Orchestration 1

Play the eighth note on a different drum to the sixteenth notes.

Orchestration 2

Split the three notes between three different drums.

TASK

1. Using the 2 minute rule, get all fills up to a tempo of at least 120bpm.
2. Use different grooves in each example.
3. Apply the given fills to a structured example as the 'B' section.
4. Create your own half bar sixteenth note fills then apply them to a phrased example.