First things first - download the transcriptions here.
Recently, every time I think of another lesson idea that has primarily to do with what the general public would call “fills”, I pause and think “could I also do something around groove.”
While I generally don’t like the wall-of-separation between the two - fills can have backbeats and grooves can and should include improvisation - I’m cognizant that they’re different…”directions”. They fit different parts of a song.
To that end, and as the output of reviewing quite a few student videos in the past few weeks, I thought you might enjoy a lesson on ways to spice up your drum grooves - without adding more notes.
Obviously, there are gen-z beats. The internet has solved how to fill every possible 32nd in a backbeat funk groove. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
But sometimes you want to do more with less. And to their credit, some of the very same “pros” who play those flowy/gen-z beats can also “chill” during a song, but still find ways to make grooves interesting.
From injecting “hi hat stabs” in unexpected-but-musical places, to questioning the orthodoxy of “big subdivision”, to taking a page from New Orleans, today’s 10 “tricks” are tools you can fit to the situation. Not all will be appropriate for all songs, or all parts of songs, or all tempos.
But having them in your back pocket will give you a feeling of paining with a fuller palette.
And not one of them requires more technique or faster singles (I guess those are kind of the same thing) than you currently possess.
Hope you enjoy!