Smooth Transitions

The most common way to transition into a fill—meaning, connecting a fill to a groove—usually involves a beat consisting of kick, snare, and eighth notes on the hi-hat, followed by a fill based on a sixteenth-note subdivision.

In this first lesson, we will practice the transition between eighth-note and sixteenth-note subdivisions. Notice that the right hand continues to lead the eighth notes throughout, while in the 1/16 subdivision, the left hand joins in on the "e" and the "a."

Now that we can transition smoothly between eighth notes and 16th notes, the next step is to apply this to the drum kit.

The eighth notes will be played by your lead hand (usually the right hand) on the hi-hat. When transitioning into the fill, we will play the 16th notes with both the right and left hands on the snare drum.

We will play one full measure of a groove, starting with a crash cymbal on the "1." Then, in the second measure, we will transition into the fill.

To create more interest, we can incorporate rests between the notes. Instead of playing every stroke, we leave gaps by not playing on certain beats.

In the following page, there is an example of a four-note fill at the end of the second measure. In this lesson, we will learn the four most common variations based on these four notes, where we omit one stroke each time.

The Third Hand Concept: This concept treats the bass drum as if it were a third hand. Essentially, we integrate foot strokes as a substitute for right or left-hand strokes.

The goal is to incorporate the kick drum into our fills to replace certain hand movements. Since we are accustomed to our hands working together (in grooves, technical exercises, etc.), incorporating the foot can initially lead to inaccuracies in timing and dynamics.

To make our fills even more interesting, we can use embellishments based on rudiments—such as doubles, flams, paradiddles, and more.

In this lesson, we will not cover how to perform these basic rudiments; the assumption is that you already know how to play them well. If any specific rudiment feels or sounds unstable during a fill, it’s worth going back to refine it before trying to integrate it into your playing.