Or, more appropriately, how do you link the end of a fill with the beginning of the next part?


I'm not a drummer, but I can play them well enough when jamming with the old blues guys that I can do it. Playing fills is very natural to me. I get where things begin and start. But where the disconnect begins is when I'm applying drum fills to my own music. I currently have two songs I'm working on where I just can't get these little fills that go along with the licks on guitar to chain together.




I use a program called EZDrummer and I've looked at their fills, how they start loopable bits, etc. My problem isn't with stuff that's fast, but stuff that's  punctuated with the other instruments.




Here are two examples of songs I'm working on that I'd like to get some drum fills in. The first is a sort of poppy, punky, Torche-esque number.










So, how do you guys do it? What's the secret?


 

You could manipulate the individual(real) hits on one or two tracks into a fill that works. Slice and dice.

Or you can use a trigger /pad to build the fills.  I use the alesis Perc Pad for that kind of thing.

I'm writing them in midi. The problem I'm finding is that the fills don't flow naturally back in to the verse. The timing just doesn't seem to fit right despite it fitting perfectly without a fill.

Upgrade to EZdrummer 2. The Tap2Find function is great. Just tap out the basic pattern you want and it finds stuff that's close, or in some cases dead on, and lists them by percentage of closeness. Then pick the one you like, drop it in the song creator, and BAM, you have anywhere from 6 to 10 or 12 patterns to choose from for each song part along with fills. I usually end up snipping stuff together for fills.

Go to YouTube and look up Ola Englund's EZDrummer2 tutorial.

I just play what feels right. Get in that groove and do what your heart tells you to do and don't over think it. Have that arsenal of tricks that you can depend on.