Unison sticking is when both hands are played in unison, split across two different drums for maximum effect! With these ten lessons under your belt, you have greatly expanded your drum fill library – great job! Now try incorporating them with your favorite songs! We’ll finish with another ten audio examples below – split into one, two, three, and full bar fills.

Why would we leave our metal round friends out? After all, they can provide some beautiful texture or just outright punch to an otherwise basic drum fill. In this video, Simon talks you through how to add crash cymbals and hi-hats in just the right spots. There are another ten audio file examples below so you can fine-tune the craft!

Time for some fun coordination! We’ve talked about different snare drum and tom orchestrations, but did you know that the bass drum can add some attractive musical color? This exercise gives you some great ideas and helps fine-tune your three-way coordination (Hands and bass drum foot). Make sure there’s a pillow in that bass drum – things are about to get real! There are ten extra audio files below if you want some more bass drum action!

If you have watched Special Feature Video Part 9, you will be familiar with the drag. Now it’s time to add these to our drum fills and complete our four core rudiments. A drag is essentially a double stroke followed by a single stroke. We’ve played flams already, so that’s our core four! Singles, doubles, flams, and drags! If you are yet to watch SFV Part 9, do yourself a big favor and take a step back, watch it, and… Read More

We introduced you to the flam in our Special Feature Video Part 8. The flam is one of the 26 drum set rudiments and one of the essential core four. If you’ve previously watched that video and fine-tuned your technique, it’s time to see how these extra little notes can transform your quickly evolving drum fills. If you have not seen SFV Part 8, take a break, go back, and watch. This investment in time will benefit you hugely when… Read More

Simon talks you through the art of orchestration. There are hundreds of variations of drum fills, and we get you thinking about all of the different possibilities. We will also demonstrate how to split note groupings and talk about dusting off those Module One music notation PDFs – they are going to come in very handy! We’re doubling the audio files from this lesson – see the extra 10!

At Drum Ambition, we love the power of three, and the three-beat fill will not disappoint. Once you have worked through these examples, we are ready to start orchestrating and creating our own unique drum fills. Don’t forget the extra five audio files below – they are always more challenging than the video examples!

Once you have mastered the one-beat fills from Lesson 1 (including the extra five audio files), the next step is the two-beat fill. That makes sense, right? Can you guess what comes after the two-beat fill? Well, one step at a time. Two beat fills give you some beautiful phrasing opportunities, and we’re all about expanding our musical palette. And speaking of developing ideas, be sure to work on the extra five audio files below!

Now that you have worked through Module 1, you will be able to play along with some of your favorite songs. You will soon notice that drum fills rarely last four beats or one full bar. Introducing the one beat fill – short, sweet, classy, musical, and your new percussive best friend. Great news! There are five more of them in the audio files section. 

When a drum fill starts the song, it is called an intro or lead-in fill. Get ready to click those sticks and count in the band! Just a friendly reminder, there are ten more examples below in the audio files. Kicking off the song is cool.