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Rhythmic Aerobics : Drum Set Beats & Fills for Today's Musician
by; Jim Ryan

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Rock Grooving

The Metronome and You: Secrets to a Successful Relationship - Part Two

by Bill Stuhlly


The Metronome and You: Secrets to a Successful Relationship Part 2 By Bill Stuhlly

In the last article you faced and confronted your fears with the metronome, or as you should now lovingly call it “The Click”. In this article we’ll continue singing 16th notes and Triplets, apply them to grooving and finally tighten up transitions to basic fills.

16th notes

A big mistake players can make is guessing how to cram four 16th notes into a quarter note click. Sounds pretty painful but that’s what your listeners have to endure unless you can fully hear and feel the 16th’s. So set your “Click” to 60 and dig into this basic exercise:

Drum set

Now add 16ths in the bass drum part and sing 16ths. You should notice the 16th’s you’re singing make the groove you’re playing lock into the Click. Here are a few examples:

The reason you’ll sing 16th’s is most of you after playing this groove for like 5 or 6 measures are going to add in a fill. Let’s start easy, single strokes around the drums, play 4 16th notes per tom. You’ll notice that if you try to do this by just listening to the Click and not knowing where the 16th notes are, you’ll rush/drag/or a combo of both them. This is where most drummers give up on the Click. Here’s a simple exercise to help you with your transitions from groove to fill.

Don’t focus on the “easiness” of the fill. Just try to get in and out of the groove without speeding up and slowing down. You’ll be fine as long as you’re singing 16th’s.

Triplets

Now you’ll be singing 3 even notes to the 1 beat of the click. If you have a newer metronome it may have a triplet function. Listen to it for reference. But I want you also to feel them internally. Start with singing them against the Click: MM 60

Now move it to the drums:

and we’ll use it as fills to reinforce the triplet feel.

These are the initial steps to locking into the Click. After these issues are addressed, go back to your harder studies and sing the 8th and 16th notes. Always remember to sing the highest division you’re going to play. For example if you’re going to play a 32nd note fill while playing an 8th note groove, you might want to hear it first before you sound like a drum set thrown down a set of stairs.

Good practice and don’t forget to kiss your Click goodnight!

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About the Author
Bill Stuhlly is a pro drummer in the L.A. area. Check out his playing and resume @ www.myspace.com/stuhlly and his band The Dirges can be heard @ www.myspace.com/thedirges

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