Build Ups Using Eighth Notes

In this lesson you are going to play a fill that makes use of some dynamics. The fill will be a simple repetitive pattern that starts quiet and gradually gets louder.

Our first example will involve playing eighth notes with two hands. Getting the two hands to play together exactly in time can be a bit tricky so we will start with an exercise to help build this ability. You will start by playing one bar of quarter notes with the left hand on the snare and the right hand on the floor tom followed by the same but as eighth notes. I have included bass drums as quarter notes also. The idea of playing two hands together at the same time is often referred to as a 'flat flam'. Here is the exercise:

An exercise in flat flams.

TASK

  • Use the Two Minute Rule to get this exercise up to a tempo of 130bpm. Make sure both hands are hitting at exactly the same time.

First Build Up Pattern

For our first build up fill we are going to play the second bar of the exercise above with a couple of modifications. We will start by removing the feet and we will also apply some dynamics. The bar will start at 'p' (soft) and end up at 'f' (loud). When playing softly put less power into your strokes and don't lift your sticks up very high. As you progress through the bar gradually start lifting the sticks higher and putting a bit more power into your strokes until you reach the end. This all happens over eight beats. It looks like this:

A fill with dynamics.

Remember the '<' sign underneath the stave is a crescendo and that tells you to gradually get louder.

TASK


We can then create a few variations of this fill by changing the orchestration and adding in feet. When feet are shown in these kind of patterns it is important to bear in mind that the crescendo usually only applies to the hands

Listed below are 3 variations on this fill. I have included a bar of groove before each, make sure you practice switching from the groove to the fill as discussed on our Introduction To Fills lesson series.


Variation 1

A fill with dynamics.


Variation 2

A fill with dynamics.


Variation 3

A fill with dynamics.


TASK

  1. Using the 2 minute rule, get all four fills up to a tempo of at least 135bpm.
  2. Add each example into one of the structures we have covered previously.
  3. Create your own fill pattern using this concept.

Try our lesson on 16th Note Roll Build Ups next.

Lessons

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