Jazz Drum Fills Sheet Music: The Basics

This post covers the basics of jazz drum fills sheet music. It covers what you need to know about reading and writing fills, as well as some tips and tricks.

Introduction

Welcome to our Jazz Drum Fills Sheet Music section! Here you’ll find big band drum fills, funk drum fills, Latin drum fills, and more.

To help you get started, we’ve put together a few basics tips on how to read and play jazz drum fills sheet music. If you’re new to reading drum music, be sure to check out our Drum Notation Basics article.

Once you’ve got the hang of things, take a look at our sheet music collection and see if anything catches your fancy. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, be sure to drop us a line and we’ll do our best to help you out.

Happy reading!

What is a Drum Fill?

A drum fill is a short phrase played by the drummer in between sections of a song, or as a transition from one section to another. Drum fills are usually played on the hi-hat, snare drum, or a combination of the two. They can be as simple as a couple of notes, or as complex as a long sequence of drum rolls and flams.

The Basic Types of Drum Fills

There are four basic types of drum fills: single strokes, double strokes, rolls, and flams.

Single strokes are the most basic type of fill. They’re simply a series of single hits on the drums, usually in alternating hands. Double strokes are two hits in each hand, rolls are a series of alternating hits that sound like a roll of thunder, and flams are two hits where the first is quieter than the second.

One common way to practice these different types of fills is to play along with a metronome or drum machine set to a slow tempo. Start by playing single strokes, then double strokes, then rolls, and finally flams. As you get comfortable with each type of fill, you can increase the tempo until you’re playing at your desired speed.

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, you can start to experiment with other rhythms and combinations of notes. This is where your creativity as a drummer really comes into play!

How to Read Drum Fill Notation

In order to read drum fill notation, you need to know a few basic elements. The following list covers the most important aspects of reading drum fills:

-The staff: The staff is the set of five horizontal lines on which notes are placed in standard music notation. In drum fill notation, the staff is used to indicate the percussion instruments that will be playing the fill.
-Note values: Note values tell you how long a note should be played. In drum fill notation, whole notes (1), half notes (2), quarter notes (4), eighth notes (8), and sixteenth notes (16) are used.
-Rests: Rests indicate silence. In drum fill notation, whole rests (1), half rests (2), quarter rests (4), eighth rests (8), and sixteenth rests (16) are used.
-Beats and measures: Music is divided into beats and measures. A measure is a unit of time that contains a certain number of beats. In 4/4 time, there are four beats in a measure.

Now that you know the basics of reading drum fill notation, you can begin learning some basic fills. The following two examples are both four-beat fills in 4/4 time.

Example 1:
X X X X | X X X X | X X X X | X X X X
1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4
snare kick snare kick | snare kick snare kick | snare kick snare kick | snare kick snare kick

Example 2:

X . . . | . . . X | . . . . | . . . .
1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4
snare HiHat snare HiHat| snare HiHat snare HiHat| snare HiHat snare HiHat| snare HiHat snare HiHat

Tips for Playing Drum Fills

Here are a few tips to help you get started playing drum fills:

-Start by practicing basic fills with just your hands. Once you have the basic pattern down, you can add in the kick drum.
-Remember that the goal of a fill is to add interest and excitement to the music. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different rhythms and dynamics.
-practice, practice, practice! The more you play, the more comfortable you will feel adding fills into your playing.

Conclusion

While this is not an exhaustive list of all the different types of jazz drum fill sheet music out there, it should give you a good idea of the basics. As with anything else, the best way to learn is by listening to and watching as many examples as possible. Don’t be afraid to experiment and come up with your own variations. And most importantly, have fun!