How about the composition of your fills?

[peter]

Some people just pour it out thick.

Others do it sparingly.

Do you guys think in terms of patterns
and groups or just whatever seems to
be the flavor of the moment?

Do you think it matters?

I do. I like to hear different "motifs".

Main Entry: mo·tif
Pronunciation: mO-'tEf
Function: noun
Etymology: French, motive, motif, from Middle French -- more at MOTIVE
Date: 1848
1 : a usually recurring salient thematic element (as in the arts); especially : a dominant idea or central theme
2 : a single or repeated design or color

I think that herein lies the identity of a
player, alongside the technique, which
can only be viewed.

[morgenthaler]

I like things (fills) to grow out of my hours behind the kit (practice), and just naturally present themselves in my playing.
Let me quote Virgil on this topic:

" When I practice I like to be very analytical and tear things apart,- ...When I am on stage, I let instinct take over".

[peter]

When Virgil is on stage, you can see all of what he practiced and through all the years. I believe that his work has become his instinct. It's the difference between playing a paradiddle and using it. Virgil utilizes everything he's ever made contact with. He is a virtual sponge that harbors the Pacific, while we're looking at how impossible it is to wipe up a gallon on juice.

I hear and see many motifs in Virgil.

[DavidPartay]

I like to make my fills fit in with the music, and depending on the context, to make the music 'feature' the drums for that particular fill. Not all the time though, because if you 'feature' a fill, then you're very much risking being called an overplayer ;). They key is to make it sound good and fit the music, or fill out the music. Not to govern the music.

[peter]

Agreed, David. It has to fit.

One of things I like to do is solo in
rehearsal slowly, especially including
all the cross-sticking and twirling that
would like to see come out in a live
situation.

A lot of guys think this is a foolish idea
but I disagree. SLOW is your friend, when
you are learning and SPEED, your enemy.

I learned this heavy from a musical scholar
at a workshop and what I really remember
and which left a strong impression, was that
the slower you went, the greater the chance
of success and the more success you had to
build on, the more positive your practicing
outlook would get, not to mention your
confidence. It can only work.

[morgenthaler]

Very good points peter!
I have had the same experiences!
T. Lang says the same by the way; speed will come from control,- and you get control from working slowly and thoroughly(sp?)!

[peter]

This is seemingly coming into conflict
with my experiment on the double-kick
and the use of the beater rebound.

I find that the rebound is totally a
different concept than the stroke and
that one has to find his way to it. It's
like trying to stroke a double-stroke
on your hands, from slow to fast. The
bridge from stroke to rebound has to
be crossed but each of these are
separate. I think some people might
be thinking that I'm doing the double-
speak, promoting both, when what I
I am doing are two spearate things.
I have only been working on these
double-stroke kicks for 4-days and I
am just sharing what I am finding.

Believe me, I am working both ways,
from slow to fast, individually controlling
the stroke towards the rebound and
then from fast to slow, from rebound
towards individual stroke.

I hope that makes sense.

[quitou]

I totally agree...I think a lot of people just throw in certain fills to kinda show off with no regard to the demands of the song...I'm just as guilty of this as the next guy...I'll learn a cool new fill and I'll want to use it so I throw it in somewhere even though its not necessary...a really good example of doing fills that are appropriate to the song can be found on Neil Peart's "A Work In Progress DVD"...he gives some pretty detailed descriptions of his fills and his motivations for throwing them in...A lot of the time they are motivated by what the bass or guitar anre doing, but even more interestingly, he also does certain fills to compliment what the vocals are saying...I thought that was a very cool approach...but definitely, I think Weckl said it best on his videos... that you have to know when to shut "it" off ("it" being all that incredible technique and facility that some drummers develop)...

This is also something that my teacher has me working on with Jazz soloing...when I first starting playing all this stuff, my solos just consisted of a whole bunch of chops and licks strung together without any kind of organization to them...it's taken a while (and will still take a lot more work), but gradually he has been changing my soloing to deal more with thematic development than just linking together chops...basically what he tells me to do is to pick a theme, and explore it for a while...add some notes, take some away, change dynamics, push and pull the tempo...but all this still relating to the theme...another thing he does is for example telling to change themes at some point in the solo...for example...if it's a 32 bar solo play 2-16 bar phrases each phrase dealing with a different theme...

A theme can be anything from a lick or fill, to a rhythmic figure, it can deal with dynamcis (ie. your theme can be playing quietly), etc.

what do you guys think with this approach???

[jonberg]

Well said quitou!
I think it´s THAT, that seperates proffesionals from amatuers...
...pro´s use their musicality, and amatuers use their technique to make a solo. Of course, one can play a solo based on technique...but to make it musically interesting, you gotta have some kind of theme or thought behind it!

I always try to have a "hook" and playing around that, but I sometimes go beyond that and put in something cool.

[Casey]

I agree that a drummers identity lies in the way they aproaches fills.
For me, when I am creating fills, I like to be taistie & powerfull. (But NOT overpowering!!) When I am at the gig though my fills are normaly what feels right at the time. However I do like to stick to certain fills in certain in parts of songs because they work so well, and help transmit the vibe across to the crowd.

[scott h]

Regarding solos:
I think that once one has well developed facility on the instrument, it then comes down to musical context as to how one approaches soloing.
For example, in a 32-bar "straight-ahead" jazz tune (whether soloing over the head or trading 4's or whatever), developing phrases out of motifs (usually taken from the melody of the song) is definately the way to go.
In a more fusion-esque solo, I think it's kind of cool to just have a bunch of licks linked together, as long as it flows and is for the correct lenth of time! There still might be motifs, but they would be more abstract or hidden.
Did that make sense at all?

[Xen-]

When composing a whole song, not just the fills, I ''hear'' the desired final result in my head, which is often beyond my abilities, and then write it in MIDI. That's what really pushes me to practice. It's not always pure technique, but also the sounds to achieve and the dynamics to play with. Sometimes, though, I have surprises and I appreciate what comes out of my playing.

When soloing, it's completely different. I enter a different world. I forget about everything that surrounds me, including crowds, and think about a story, a landscape, anything! so it flows. The cross-overs and stick tricks are really for me in those situations. The intensity of my playing through the solo comes more naturally that way.