How to Play a Quarter-Measure Drum Fill Using the Snare

Drum fills are used to retain the listener's attention during breaks in the music. A quarter-measure drum fill using a snare drum is a drum solo that lasts a quarter of a measure long. In 4/4 time, a quarter-measure drum fill lasts for 1 beat.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Evaluate the music to find out what time it is written in. This gives you the number of beats you have for the quarter-measure drum fill.

2. Play 8th notes on the snare drum. In 4/4 time, 2 8th notes fit in a quarter measure. Eighth notes are good fills for a song with a slower tempo.

3. Hit the snare drum at a faster speed and play 4 16th notes in the same amount of time as 2 8th notes.

4. Execute 8 32nd notes on the snare drum. A 32nd note is half the length of a 16th note. These are often difficult for beginners but once you learn the wrist movement they are easy to play.

5. Speed up your drumstick movement by playing 64th notes. The 64th notes require quick wrist movements but allow you to fill in a small amount of space with more drum hits.

6. Combine different notes together to create variations for the quarter-measure drum fill depending on the kind of music you are playing. For instance, you can play 2 16th notes and 4 32nd notes.

Tips & Warnings

• Add a crash cymbal at the end of any drum fill to punctuate the fill.