For this double paradiddle fill you will be taking a simple orchestration and combining it with groove to create a simple half bar pattern. Too add an extra layer of rhythm and complexity to the part, accents are added to the snares. With practice this can give you a really fast fill that can be applied in many different situations. At the very bottom of the page you will find links to lessons you may find useful, i recomend working through some of these to help develop the necessary hand speed and co-ordination.

This fill is half a bar long and has the double strokes moved to two different toms. These fit nicely around the sticking to make a smooth movement around the kit. On top of this simple orchestration, all snare notes are ghosted except the third in the first set of six and the second in the second set which are accented. Two kicks are then added underneath, the first falls on that first accented snare and the second on beat 4. Be careful of the sticking here as it is very easy to slip up. The base version of the fill looks like this:

The base fill

The smaller notes that you can see in this fill are ghost notes, the bracket has been removed to prevent the notation getting too cluttered. The '>' sign above some notes is an Accent and these should be significantly louder than the ghost notes. Spend some time getting comfortable with this basic pattern ensuring dynamics and note placement are accurate


Adding Groove

Now fill up the rest of the bar up with groove. It doesn't matter what groove you use as long as it's only half a bars worth. Below are a couple of examples.

Grooved Version 1

The fill with groove

Grooved Version 2

The fill with groove

Grooved Version 3

The fill with groove


Ideas For Adding Feet

Two bass drums were added in the original version of the fill but let's have a look at a couple of different placement ideas. Several of these are given below with a quick note on the concept used.

Foot Variation 1

You'll start off nice and simple with some eighth notes. This is great for time keeping when slightly odd rhythms are used and gives the fill a slightly more solid feel.

Fill 2 with feet

Foot Variation 2

A similar time keeping idea using quarter notes on the left foot. Try combining the feet from this and the previous exercise to create a more layered sounding fill.

Fill 2 with feet

Foot Variation 3

This version is similar to the original fill but I've taken it a step further. Kicks are added under both accented notes and then under the first of the two orchestrated notes. Adding kicks like this further emphasizes the orchestration concept.

Fill 2 with feet

Foot Variation 4

Here you are playing eigth note triplets on the kick drum to create a slightly off time sound.

Fill 2 with feet


TASKS

  • Using the 2 minute rule, get all exercises upto a tempo of at least 110bpm.
  • Using the given ideas create you own version of this fill, either by combining the parts or expanding on them
  • Vary the length of the fill to create full / three quarter / quarter bar fills.
  • Experiment with switching up the orchestration.
  • Shuffle the accents around or add more.

Lessons

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