7 Pocket Fills for your Drumming Vocab

The way fills are approached in drumming can make and break songs. They can make a song by being; thought out, complementary to the music and most of all, in the pocket. Where on the other, be played without consideration to the genre (which can lead to unwanted head turns), completely disrupt the groove of the song when your sub-divisions go flying everywhere and most of all can increase/decrease tempo without the drummer even noticing that they’re doing it. I’ve made a small list of songs that i’ve taken drum fill ideas from, broken them down and put into my drumming vocabulary.

Bad Kids to the Back – Snarky Puppy (Drummer: Jamison Ross, Larnell Lewis and Jason ‘JT’ Thomas )

Such a great song to draw inspiration from, the main reason for me is that there are 3 incredibly talented drummers who all have meaty features. This one composition can show from the beginner to advanced drummer and beyond the definition of individuality within playing the drums as an instrument and how all drummers can create their own unique tone.

Jamison Ross uses this fill as a ‘transition fill’, taking the band from one section to another (A Section to tenor sax solo). The accents on the ‘16th off beats’ (on the ‘e’ and ‘a’) give the fill an uneasy sensation of it falling off the edge (to my opinion), the resolution being that sweet snare crack on beat 4!

This fill is a great little one to have in the bag (as well as a good complimentary fill to Cliff Almonds fill in Not Yet). To break down the fills positives;

• Great to have when needing a triplet fill for ‘e’ and ‘a’ accents with other instruments

• Can be used on its own as a transition fill

• Can make it longer or shorter, as its really only a 3 note fill

• Can be used (when appropriate) in multiple genres, as either a big fill, or a hot little embellishment

• Mixing it with the Not Yet fill can sound great for more variety

Fill at 1:42

Seven – Dave Matthews Band (Drummer: Carter Beauford)

As the title of the track, the song is in a metre of 7 (7/8 or 7/4 however you want to analyse it), although the way Carter plays, you wouldn’t notice If you weren’t looking as he doesn’t make it obvious. This musicality pushes the vocals forward and doesn’t distract you from that sweet guitar riff. Is this reflected in this lil’ ol’ fill? That answer is yes!

Carter uses ghost notes, dynamic builds and pops of the toms to keep it fresh while not making the subdivisions overly complex to achieve a fill with flow. Since this is already in 7, it’s a great place to start when practicing incorporating fills into this odd time-signature for the first time, or, even if you’re looking at how to get some tasty fills into a song that’s in 7 and you want to keep grooving.

• Subtle fill to add to your vocab for 7/4 7/8 time-sig vocab

• Can be manipulated for any time-signature really

• Helps give perspective on how to fill while keeping your groove

• Definitely helps with getting a good perspective on how to use fills as a texture as opposed to a ‘big event’.

The best way to practice this fill (in my opinion, when you have gotten the sticking pattern and some of the feel down), is to put the song on and play it 1) at transition or half-way points (half way through verses) 2) every couple of bars 3) Playing it with the phrasing and dynamic of the vocals in mind 4) with other songs that have similar groove styles, such as; Vultures by John Mayer, Stronger than Me by Amy Winehouse.

Fill at 0:25

Part Time Lover – The PB Underground (Drummer: Pete Ray Biggin)

Pete Biggins’ fill at the start of this song (that’s definitely not a cover of the Stevie Wonder Song of the same name) really says the title of the album ‘Drums up the front’. This roll is such a great example of feel when filling with a big horn line. Pete adds weight by simply moving with the pitch and feel, rolling with the 16th notes of the horns, keeping to the toms and popping in some substitute kick drums (where the kick drum replaces a tom hit).

Like with Not Yet and Bad Kids to the Back, this fill is malleable in how long you want to play it for, in fact, Pete does this frequently in PTL (mainly because it’s a hook drum fill). Using the fill with accent variations for when it is used as a transition fill and in the outro when the song wraps up.

Anyway, here are some positives of it being in your vocab:

• Can be used as a short or long fill

• Great straight 16th fill

• Good practice taking a fill around the toms that not just a straight up 16th roll

• Is malleable with straight up 16th fills

• Definitely fun to be creative with when practicing to backing tracks, then so satisfying when performed musically

Always remember, practice the fill as much as possible in the genre you’re trying to put it in, sometimes things sound great, other times they really just don’t fit, but that doesn’t mean not to try and experiment (the practice room or jams are recommended!).

Fill at 0:43

Not Yet – Michel Camilo (Drummer: Cliff Almond)

What a killer drum fill to start off an absolute journey of a composition (the whole album is recommended, ‘Once more Once’ https://open.spotify.com/album/6yqPb1pted6SVdEQRVOcUf ). Cliff Almonds rhythmic and dynamic accuracy with his double stroke rolls on the snare that guide the tom roll is something I strive to emulate and incorporate.

The thing that makes this fill great is its ability to be as long or as short as you want, while giving you the freedom to really explore the kit as well as giving flexibility to incorporate different sticking groupings to add some metric modulation tension. But, to break down the positives;

• It can be long or short

• Tight fill that can be used for chop situations or to add some expressive heat

• Can easily incorporate a diverse range of the drum kit, or keep it simple on a couple of elements

• Strongly outlines the beat (or the off-beat if you flip it)

It is crucial that when playing this fill, it’s used with consideration! Popping this into some ballad, hip-hop, classic/ cool rock or any song with groove at its core without practice and consideration of the music can make the fill come off as a bit of bad taste (this fill can become ‘lumpy’ at slower tempos). So remember, always try new things in the practice room to as many styles as possible so you REALLY know where it is appropriate!

Fill at the start (0:00)

Shesmovedon – Porcupine Tree (Drummer: Gavin Harrison)

This meaty little fill by the great Gavin Harrison really comes out of nowhere! When I first heard this fill in the early stages of learning the drums, it blew me away and opened up my mind to how incorporating doubles on the hi-hat and kick drum can really expand your sound pallet.

Gavin really gives a great talk on his approach to filling on a Guitar Center session. He talks about ways to approach ideas of fill, but one particular idea is what he calls “Curling”, which is by playing fills up the toms (floor tom -> middle tom -> hi-tom).

But to break what this fill can help you with;

• Learning to incorporate the hi-hat with flow

• Pushes your ability to become accurate with left hand ghost notes

• Shows how effective playing ‘up’ the toms can sound

• Incorporating doubles on the kick into fills (where the kick drum isn’t consistently playing doubles)

This fill requires quite a bit of practice, not actually of the fill itself, but by the foundational elements that actually make this fill what it is.

• Three stroke ruff (with a heavy emphasis on getting those ghosts consistent)

• Inverted double (L R R L – L R R L)

• Clean doubles on the kick drum

Fill at 0:26

Tower of Inspiration – Dave Weckl

The fill at the start of Tower of Inspiration could not be more Weckl, and what a great one to start off the album as it is so scrumptiously performed! Honestly, there are so many tight fills in this album as a whole, it was kind of hard to choose one to put on this list, but this was chosen as its accessible to not only many genres, but to many varying degrees of skill.

A primary aspect of this fill that makes it a great part of a drumming vocabulary is that it’s flexible. This comes from it;

• Not being genre specific (it can be used in a multitude of songs)

• It’s short enough as to not take away attention from the music, but gives more spice than a straight up 16th fill.

• It’s versatile when you get creative

• It can be manipulated and expanded upon for soloing

The main flair that I feel gives this fill its impact is the tom accent on the triplet of the first beat. This coupled with some finely played ghost notes on the snare really give this fill that Weckl pop.

Fill from the start

Rosanna – Toto (Drummer: Jeff Porcaro)

What’s more to say that’s not been said about this monster of a shuffle groove and Porcaros’ one of a kind influence on Toto as a whole, but, let’s say more anyway! A similar effect to Part time Lovers fill, the hits that Porcaro follows, again, add weight to the horn line, but this time as crisp triplets. The way he gets this rolling over type effect is pure dynamics and accenting the ‘a’ of every beat and almost ghosting the down beat.

It’s just triplets, why put it into my drumming vocabulary? Good question! Purely for the fact that this fill combines; dynamics, feel and ‘a’ (of a triplet) accenting into one neat package. But here’s a quick breakdown;

• Versatile throughout genres (when explored properly)

• Helps get your accenting onto the ‘a’ instead of just the down beat

• Great example of how dynamics can completely reinvigorate a fill

• Just so much damn fun to play when called for

• Good for when you need that big one bar fill

Just be ready for some solid practice with dynamics as a top priority, otherwise it’ll end up sounding like another triplet around the toms!

Fill at 1:07