Fills
A fill is a rhythmical variation from a particular pattern. Any kit part or combination of kit parts may be used. Fills are used to "color" sections of a song and are particularly useful as an indicator of coming changes. (For example, verse to chorus, chorus to solo etc.) They are generally 2 bars or less in length with 2 beat ( 3 3) and 1 bar fills being very popular.
Most songs are made up of sections whose number of bars is a multiple of 4, (e.g., verse = 8 bars; chorus = 16 bars). As fills are often played to lead into different sections of a song, the more easily you can feel sections of 4 bars, the more easily you can follow songs and play fills at appropriate points.
Hence, many of the drum patterns which follow have an example of a fill notated at the end of a 4 bar repeated section. Note: sticking of fills is presumed starting with the right hand and then alternating, unless otherwise indicated.
The following example shows Exercise 105 repeated for three bars, with a fill being played in the fourth bar.
Counting Off Bars
This system is used to count repeated patterns and is a way of keeping track of the number of bars that have elapsed. The first beat of each bar is counted as the number of that bar.
For example:
