This lesson takes the fills learned in our Half Bar Sixteenth Note Fills lesson and reduces the amount of space the fill takes up. As the title suggests, the fills are only going to last one quarter of the bar or one quarter note in a bar of 4/4. Technically you could place a quarter note fill anywhere in the bar but the most common place you will see them used is on the last beat.
The aim of this lesson is to familiarize you with the new fill length and to provide some ideas of how to construct these fills. We haven't provided a version of this fill that uses eighth notes as there would be just two beats to account for but feel free to experiment with that idea. Even with sixteenth notes, there are only four notes to the fill so variations are quite limited.
Remember, the counting for the sixteenth notes will be '4 e + a'. Unless stated otherwise, use a single stroke sticking. The percentage sign repeat mark has been used in the phrased example to stop the notation getting squashed.
Example 1
The first fill uses sixteenth notes on the snare.
Fill
Phrase
Example 2
Here you will be playing groups of two across two different drums.
Fill
Phrase
Example 3
This is a variation on the previous fill. The groove in the phrased example uses quarter note, notice that a minim is used on the right hand to cover the fill.
Fill
Phrase
Example 4
Here you play a tom on the first note and the rest on the snare.
Fill
Phrase
Example 5
The final fill makes use of three different drums.
Fill
Phrase
TASK:
- Using the 2 minute rule, get all fills up to a tempo of at least 120bpm.
- Get all four bar phrases up to a tempo of at least 120bpm.REMEMBER to practice repeating the phrases and eliminate any gaps in timing. A metronome is very useful for this.
- Use different grooves in each phrased example.
- Create your own quarter bar sixteenth note fills then apply them to a phrased example.
