Fills and variation in grunge drum beats

Hello, and welcome to today's lesson, entitled "Fills and Variation in Grunge Drum Beats." Today we're gonna be taking a real in-depth look at how we create variation through the drum parts, how we can add fills, and how we can use those drum beats to restructure our grunge compositions as well. My name is Mr. Norris, I'm gonna be taking you through as we delve into that, so let's get to it. Our outcome for today's lesson is, I can develop a drum beat with fills and variation and arrange it into a verse-chorus structure. Some keywords. Firstly, drum fill. This is a break in the groove in which the drummer plays a different pattern. It's often used at the end of sections or phrases. Crash cymbal, a crash cymbal produces a loud, sharp crash, and is typically used to emphasise key moments. Ride cymbal, this is a cymbal that has a thin ringing sound, and is an alternative to the hi-hat in drum grooves. And finally, verse-chorus form. This is a common structure in popular music styles that is based around alternating verses and choruses. So we're gonna be getting stuck into those concepts as we go through the lesson. The first part of today's lesson is looking at creating variation. Drums in grunge often create contrast between different sections of the song by varying the drum beat. I'd like to listen to these two examples, and try and identify how does the drum beat vary between the verse and the chorus. You can pause my video while you have a listen to those. Let's take a look at that, then. Hopefully you identified in the chorus the drummer plays louder and more dramatically, uses lots of crash cymbals and open hi-hats, and uses energetic drum fills. So there's a few things there that the drummer does to create this high level of energy and intensity in the chorus that contrasts with the verse. Drummers create variation in a number of different ways, including using the ride cymbal instead of the hi-hat. That would sound like this. (rhythmic percussion music) We can hear the ride there repeating, instead of where the hi-hat might normally. Varying the kick and the snare patterns, that might sound like this. (rhythmic percussion music) That's a really common way of creating variation in a drum beat. And adding in tom-toms, that might sound like this. (rhythmic percussion music) So you can hear there, all three of those grooves have a similar pulse and a similar feel, but by creating that variation with those different parts of the drum kit, have given them a very different character. Now we're gonna watch a video that shows us how to create some variation in our drum beat using the ride cymbal, here we go. So far we've created a simple rock beat using some open hi-hats, and creating some variation on our kick drum pattern as well. Now we're gonna look at creating a second drum beat where we can add a few more different and more complex variations, to create some contrast in our drum beat. I'm gonna make this one start on a bar nine, but I don't need to create any new tracks because I already have three drum kick tracks created for my kick, my snare, and for my open hi-hats. For this first variation, we're gonna look at using the ride cymbal to create some added interest and create a little bit of contrast. The first thing I'm gonna do is create a kick and a snare track, and for now I'm just gonna copy what I already have. So I'm gonna paste in my snare on the back beat, and I'm gonna copy in my bass drum pattern, my kick drum pattern that I already have. They sound like this. (rhythmic percussion music) Drummers often use the ride cymbal instead of the hi-hat, just to create a bit of contrast. It has a much thinner and more sustained sound, which creates a real contrast with the the crisp, sort of punchy click of the hi-hat too, when it's closed. So the first thing I wanna do is on this bottom track here, I'm just gonna find the ride cymbal sound on my instrument. (drum cymbal music) It's that one there, and then I can treat it in the way that I might treat hi-hats when I'm creating a drum beat. So I'm gonna do repeated patterns. I could try crotchets, I could try quavers, I could even try semiquavers, and I'll see what works. So I'll try a couple out, and then I'll choose one that I like. (rhythmic drum music) Yeah, I think it's gonna be quavers for this one. I think that sounds best. So when I'm ready to record, I can hit the record button, make sure the metronome's on, and I'm gonna record one bar of quavers on the ride cymbal. (rhythmic percussion music) Quickly quantize them, make sure it's an eighth note if I've done quavers, and then I can loop them, so I've got eight bars of my first drum beat, and eight bars of my second drum beat. Let's have a quick listen. (rhythmic drum music) And that creates real contrast with my original one. (rhythmic percussion music) So that's one variation that we can use. Now let's see how we can create variation by varying the snare and kick patterns. The way we can create some variation is by varying the snare and kick patterns. Previously we looked at how we can create some variety in the kick part, still keeping beat one and beat three, so that really strong sense of pulse, but also adding in some additional notes around. So the kick pattern that I ended up with was this, (rhythmic percussion music) and I still have the snare doing the back beat as well, on beat two and beat four. (rhythmic percussion music) Now just like we did with the kick, we can vary the snare pattern to add a little bit of interest and a little bit of contrast, so that it sounds different from my first section of drum beat. What I still want to do though, just like I did with the kick, is make sure that I keep that strong sense of pulse by still having the snare on beat two and beat four, that's on the back beat. So what I'm gonna look at doing is adding in some additional snares, but not removing these ones here. So I'm gonna create a new note, and what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna try this in different places in the bar, until I find a rhythm that I think works. So let's start with it, let's try that, see what that sounds like. (rhythmic percussion music) Not, I don't think that sounds very good. Let's try it maybe a semiquaver earlier here. (rhythmic percussion music) I quite like that one, let's try one more. (rhythmic percussion music) I quite like that one as well. And I could do more than one, you know, it doesn't have to just be one note. So I could do a combination of, a couple of different places. (rhythmic percussion music) I could try one near the end of the bar. (random percussion music) Let's try that. (rhythmic percussion music) I might go for that, and then I could also look at varying my kick pattern as well. This is the kick pattern that I've got on my first section, so I could create a slightly different kick pattern to make it a little bit different. Let's try that one. (rhythmic percussion music) I think now that I've changed that kick, I'm gonna get rid of that last snare note, and I'm gonna settle on this as my new drum beat. (rhythmic percussion music) So there I've added some variation in the kick and the snare parts, to make this new section of drumming, this new drum beat, contrast with the original one. And finally, let's take a look on how we can add tom-toms to create variation. A third way that we can add some contrast is by adding in some tom-toms. If I'm gonna do that, the first thing I need to do is create a new track, put it down the bottom here, and find the same drum kit I had before. And then as my second drum beats start in the bar nine, I'm gonna be starting my tom-tom pattern in there. Now the first thing I wanna do before I start creating any rhythms, is have a go finding the tom-tom sounds on my instrument. So you might have to do a bit of exploring to find them. (random drum beat music) They're usually just above the snare. So I've got a low, that's like a floor tom-tom there, that's a low tom, and that's a high tom. So those are my three toms that I've found here. There might be others as well, but that'll do for now. Now when we're adding these in, these are just gonna be a little bit of decoration that fills some of the gaps between the other sounds. So we don't want them emphasising the beat, like the kick or the snare, but we might want them to sit in between, and just add a little bit of interest and a little bit of decoration. So as before, I'm gonna loop my current drum beat, which sounds like this. (rhythmic percussion music) And I've simplified the kick and the snare, just to make this more clear while I'm demonstrating. And then I'm gonna just experiment with some different rhythms, using some of the different toms to see what I can create. Generally speaking, toms work best where we go from high to low. So using high pitched ones first, rather than to go in from the low tom. That's generally just the technique that drummers use, but you might find some interesting patterns combining the different sounds. So let's have a go at improvising some little rhythms. (rhythmic percussion music) I'm gonna go for something like that. So once I find a pattern that I think fits with the other parts, I can then record it in. (rhythmic percussion music) I can loop it and quantize it, put some semiquavers in there, so 16th note, and then let's hear what this drum beat sounds like. (rhythmic percussion music) And contrast that with my first drum beat. (rhythmic percussion music) I'm really happy with the contrast there. They sound very different, and we've got lots of different ways that I've created variation there as well. So have a go, use some of those tools. You don't have to use them all. Use one, two, or three of them to create a varied drum beat by using some ride perhaps, by using some tom-toms, and by varying your snare and your kick patterns. Let's check your understanding then. What is most important when varying a kick or snare pattern? That they're both used equally, that they play totally different rhythms, that there is still a strong sense of pulse, or that they use more notes? I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer is, that there is still a strong sense of pulse. That's key, whatever variation you're doing, that there's still that strong sense of pulse. Which two of the following apply to adding a tom-tom part? You wanna play the tom-toms from high to low, play them from low to high, play rhythms that don't emphasise the beat, or play rhythms that emphasise beats two and four? Choose two. Okay, the answers are playing the toms from high to low, and playing rhythms that don't emphasise the beat, so fitting in between the beats, rather than emphasising the strong beats. Well done if you picked up on those two. For Task A, create a second drum beat using one or more of these variations. Use the ride cymbal instead of hi-hat, vary the snare or the kick pattern, and add tom-toms. Some success criteria, that you created a new eight-bar section after your original drum beat, added one or more of the variations, you tried your musical ideas first before recording. And finally, make sure your drum beat is quantized and looped. So you can pause my video now, and have go at that task. Okay, let's move on. The second part of this task, I'd like to listen to these three clips, and identify which variation you think is most effective for grunge, and why. Here is A. (rhythmic percussion music) Now B. (rhythmic percussion music) And finally C. (rhythmic percussion music) You can pause my video while you quickly finish your answer. So the correct answer here then is that B would be the most suitable, most effective, because it has a clear pulse on the snare and the kick and repeated notes on a cymbal, which in this case is the ride cymbal. It's also not too complex. A is much more complex, so maybe a little bit too much. So B would be the most effective. Well done, if you picked up on it. The same part of our lesson, we're looking at adding fills. Drum fills are short breaks in the groove where the drummer plays a different pattern. Have a quick listen to this groove with a drum fill. (rhythmic percussion music) So we can hear the fill towards the end there. I'd like to pause my video in a second, and listen to three examples here of some grunge. Focus on the drum groove and the drum fills. I'd like to try and pick out, what do the drum fills have in common with each other? So you can pause my video now, and have a listen to these three. Let's have a look at that one then. So the thing they have in common, is that they all occur at the end of a section when the music and the drum beat change. So where they come in relation to what else is going on around them is really important, and they all happen at the end of a section where something is changing. Drum fills tend to be heard at the end of a phrase or section, and this is normally every four, eight or 16 bars. And the key here is that they highlight the start of a new section as well. So it's not just emphasising that end, but it's showing us this is the end of this section, and this is the start of the new section. There are many ways to create a drum fill, and drummers often improvise them to fit the mood and the style of a piece of music. So very often drummers when they're playing live won't plan in advance their fills. They'll make them on the spot to fit with the music. One common technique is the snare drum fill. (rhythmic percussion music) We can hear there the added pattern that uses just the snare. Another one is combining the snare and the kick. (rhythmic percussion music) A third technique is to use tom-toms. (rhythmic percussion music) Then finally we could combine all of those, so the snare, the kick, and the tom-toms. (rhythmic percussion music) So all those different fills serve the same purpose, but they use different parts of the drums to create that effect. Drum fills in rock music often end with a crash cymbal on beat one of the new section. Have a listen to this fill with no crash. (rhythmic percussion music) Now hear the same one with a crash. (rhythmic percussion music) You can hear that cymbal there on beat one of the next bar, and this helps to emphasise the end of the fill and the start of the section. So it helps to give it really crisp cutoff, and really emphasise that. Now I'm gonna watch a video that shows us how to create a drum fill using the snare. Now we're gonna have a go at adding some drum fills. Drum fills, as we know, should come at the end of a section, and lead into the start of a new section. So I'm gonna be creating a drum fill in bar eight, which is this last bar of the first section. And then later on I'll also create one in bar 16, which is the last bar of the second section. In order to do this, I'm gonna create a new track. That then just means I can keep my drum fills separate from my main drum beat, and keep things nice and tidy. So I'm gonna pop my track down here, find the same drum kit as before, and then I'm ready to go. The first kinda drum beat, or drum fill, sorry, that we're gonna look at is using the snare only. So we're not using tom-toms, we're not using kick, we're just gonna be looking at using the snare. And so because I'm doing that, I'm gonna remove my current snare pattern in bar eight, so there's no snare in that bar, and now I'm gonna add an interesting snare pattern for my fill. Now fills generally use faster rhythms than the rest of the drum beat. So at the moment my snare is just on the backbeat mostly, which is beat two and beat four. But what I really want is some faster rhythms, maybe some quavers, maybe some semiquavers, to make an interesting pattern. So I'm gonna loop this bar eight, and I'm just gonna try some different snare patterns, see if I can create an interesting one that I think would sound effective as a fill. (rhythmic percussion music) There's my snare. (rhythmic percussion music continues) So there's a bunch of different patterns there. Lots of those would work. I found one that I quite like, which is this one. (rhythmic percussion music) I quite like that. And the one thing I also need to remember to do, is that I'm gonna land on beat one of the next section with a crash cymbal. And that's really useful in a fill, because it really highlights the end of the fill and the start of the new section. So I find my crash there, and I'm gonna hit that on the start of bar nine, once I've recorded my snare drum fill. Here we go then. So I've got my metronome on, I've got my drum beat, let's record in my snare in bar eight, and then land on one crash on beat one of bar nine. Here we go. (rhythmic percussion music) Let's just listen to the fill on its own. Here we go. (rhythmic percussion music) So I've got my snare pattern, and then I've got my crash on beat one of the next bar. And if you listen to it all together, so let's go from maybe bar six, you can hear the first drum beat, then my fill, and then the second drum beat. (rhythmic percussion music) So I think that works really nicely. So that's one fill done using snare. Make sure you do it at the end of your section, hit a crash on beat one of the next section, and also make sure you've quantized it, which I've not done there. Now let's see how we can do it using snare and kick. This next fill, I'm gonna have a go at using both kick and snare, so this is slightly more complex, and there's gonna be slightly more going on with this fill, but we'll follow the exact same process. So the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm going to, let's say I'm gonna do my fill in bar 16 this time, so the end of this section. I'm gonna get rid of both my kick and my snare in that section. And because I've used some tom-toms here as well, I'm also gonna get rid of those, just so they don't sort of feed into the fill. So all I'm leaving is whatever cymbals I've got, which in this case is open hi-hats. Now I'm gonna follow the same process. So I'm gonna loop this little section here, and I'm just gonna practise some different patterns that use both kick and snare, again thinking about doing some faster rhythms than my main drum beat. And then I'm gonna make sure I'm ending on a crash cymbal at the end. So I need to find my kick, my snare, and my crash, kick, snare, and crash. I'm just gonna try out different things and come up with something that I like, here we go. (rhythmic percussion music) So lots of different combinations there of both kick and snare. And when I'm ready to record, I'm gonna record one in, so I'll choose one of those that I liked. And then although there's nothing here yet afterwards, I'm gonna hit my crash on beat one, making sure that I'm recording in this fills track down here. So I'm ready to record, here we go. Let's make sure I put it to record at the right place. Let's try again. (rhythmic percussion music) Let's just have a quick listen to that fill on its own. (rhythmic percussion music) And that'll now work really nicely when I've got the next section of my song starting at bar 17. And finally, using tom-toms to add a fill. The final type of fill that we're gonna look at creating is one that uses the tom-toms. As we know, there are different pitch tom-toms on a drum kit. There's a high tom, a low tom and a floor tom, and they all sound slightly different. We've got high tom, low tom, and floor tom, and they're slightly differently pitched. And we're gonna use a combination of those in this fill, so it will be a bit more complicated than the other ones. To demonstrate this, I've deleted my first fill, and I'm gonna create my fill in bar eight at the end of this first section here. Now what I'm gonna have a go at doing is, instead of creating a whole bar of fill, I'm just gonna create a two-beat fill at the end of the section. So I'm gonna delete the last two beats of my kick and my snare, so that we've just got a short gap here. So it's not a whole bar eight, it's just a two-beat one. And drummers will often mix and match between doing a whole bar of fill, or two beats of fill, maybe they'll do one beat, maybe they'll do three beats. It varies how long a fill lasts for. So this is to demonstrate that you could if you wanted do a two-beat fill instead of a whole fill bar. Again, I'm gonna loop this section, and I'm just gonna create some different patterns using the three tom-toms in these last two beats here. So let's see what I can come up with. (rhythmic percussion music) There's a few different ones there. I've chosen one that I'm gonna use, so I'm gonna record that in, and then make sure I hit my crash cymbal on beat one of bar nine when I get there. So here we go, ready to record. (rhythmic percussion music) So let's just listen to that fill on its own, (rhythmic percussion music) and if we hear it with the other parts as well. (rhythmic percussion music) And that leads nicely into my next section. So when you're creating your fills, you've got the options of using just snare, snare and kick, or a combination of those and the tom-toms. You're gonna create a fill in bar eight with a crash on the start of bar nine, and then do the same at the end of your second section in bar 16 as well. Give it your best shot, and see what you can come up with. To summarise those, when we're creating drum fills, create a two or four-beat gap in the drum beat in bar eight and in bar 16. Loop the bar to practise a new rhythm, use faster rhythms in your fill than the main drum beat, and then check the fill by listening to it on its own. Let's check your understanding. What does this drum fill use? Is it snare, snare and kick, or tom-toms? Here we go. (rhythmic percussion music) I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer then is snare and kick, so that one uses a combination of those two. Well done if you identified that correctly. When is the crash cymbal typically used in a fill, on beat four at the end of a section, throughout the fill, at the start of the fill, or on beat one at the start of a new section? And the correct answer then is, on beat one at the start of a new section. So the crash cymbal typically lands on beat one. Well done if you got that. For task B, you're gonna add fills to the end of your two different drum beats. They should fit within the final bar of a section, include a crash cymbal and beat one of the next bar, be different from each other, and use one or more of the following, snare, kick, and tom-toms. And finally, just make sure they're quantized, so they really fit in time with the beat. You can pause my video and have a go at that. For the second part of this task, I'd like to assess your drum fills against the success criteria. Have you achieved them all? And use this as a guide to, as to what you do next to improve your drum track, and pause my video while you do this. Let's move on to the final part of our lesson. So this, we're looking at creating a verse-chorus form. The drum beat often creates contrast between the different sections of a song in grunge. Most grunge songs are in verse-chorus form. This is an extremely common structure in rock and pop. We start with an intro, then we have alternating verses, choruses, contrasting middle eight section, and then we finish with a chorus and an outro. In grunge, the chorus is normally the loudest, most energetic and dramatic section. The verse is typically calmer, and drum beats should reflect this. Quickly pause my video, and compare the drum beat in the verse and the chorus of this famous grunge song. Does it reflect the changing mood? Hopefully you see the big contrast between the drum tracks in those two sections, and how they help that contrast. Now we're gonna look at how we can arrange our drum tracks into verse-chorus form, let's have a look. The final thing we're gonna be doing with our drum tracks is arranging them into verse-chorus form. As we know, this is a really common structure for pop and rock songs, and it's one that will really help us when we're adding in the other parts, if we've already got that structure in place. So in verse-chorus form, we tend to start with an intro, then we have verses and choruses alternating one after another. There's a contrasting section near the end called the middle eight, and then we have a chorus, and then we finish with something else for the ending, which is often called an outro. For the purposes of this, I'm just gonna stick with my two drum beats. I'm gonna call this first one my verse drum beat, so I'm gonna use that for my verse section. And I'm also for now, gonna put that in for my middle eight section. And then the second one is gonna be my chorus drum beat. And for now, I'm also gonna put that into my intro and outro. Later on we might develop these, so that we have different drum beats in our intro and outro, but for now we'll just use the chorus one. So the first section I need is gonna be an intro. So I'm gonna move my verse drums outta the way, and I'm gonna use this as my intro, and I'm just gonna keep my fills outta the way for now. I don't need to worry about them. After the intro comes a verse, so I can then put a verse in. And you'll notice that I'm making sure my sections are eight bars long. So this first section is eight bars up to bar nine. Next one goes up to bar 17, and we want every section to be eight bars long. After the first verse, there's gonna be a chorus. So I'm gonna select my chorus drums again, I'm gonna copy and paste them in, so that's chorus. Then we have another verse, so I'll copy and paste those in. Now what you might find, is that you need to add extra bars to the end of your track. So you notice on GarageBand, there's a little arrow that says end marker up here, and we can just extend that, so that we've got plenty of bars for the rest of our song. So so far I've done intro, then verse, then chorus, then verse. After that, we have another chorus, so I'm gonna copy these sections from my chorus drums. Then after the chorus we have a middle eight, and as I said, for now I'm gonna use my verse drums, but later on we might develop that. Then after the middle eight, we have a chorus and an outro. And for the outro again, just like the intro, I think I'll just use my chorus drums for now, but later we might come to develop that. So I've got now intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, chorus and outro. The only thing I have to do now, is I'm gonna add my fills in, and as we know, these should come at the end of an eight-bar phrase. So they're gonna be in the very last bar of each section. I'm gonna mix and match these a little bit, so they come in different places. So my first fill, let's maybe put it in that one there. Maybe I'll also use it in there. If you wanted to create extra fills as well, so you had more than two, you'd be more than welcome to. You don't have to just stick to two. And when drummers are doing fills, they tend to improvise anyway, so fills are often very different from each other. So maybe pop that one there, and I can have a listen through to check that those fills work in those places. So this is where you want to get to. You should have the verse-chorus form mapped out like this. If you've done it correctly, for now it'll end at the end of bar 64 or the start of bar 65. And we've got fills at the end of each section, linking the different drum grooves. To summarise those steps then, if we're arranging our drum grooves into verse-chorus form, use your simple drum groove for the verse and the middle eight. Use the variation groove for the chorus, and your intro and your outro. Copy the regions in each groove to create the correct structure, following that verse-chorus form structure, and add in the drum fills. Make sure you check that each section is eight bars along, so it should add up 64 bars, and add extra bars to the project if needed. Make sure that the fills also work in the new places where you've put them, so they're ending with that crash on beat one of the next section. Let's check your understanding. Which of these shows typical verse-chorus form? You can pause my video while you have a quick look through. And the correct answer then is D, intro, verse chorus, verse chorus, contrasting middle eight, then a chorus and an outro. Well done if you got that one correct. For Task C, you're gonna arrange your drum tracks into verse-chorus form. Some success criteria are that your sections are all eight bars long, they use fills at the end of sections, and they use typical verse-chorus form, which is laid out there. Remember to choose one drum beat for the chorus, as well as your outro and intro, and the other drum beat for your verse and middle eight, so you've got that contrast between sections. You can pause my video now and have a go at this, good luck. For the final part of the lesson, I'd like to look at this screenshot of a project. What could this pupil do to more effectively arrange their drum tracks in verse-chorus form? Pause my video while you have a look. Here's a few things they could do there. They should make sure that the fills are at the end of sections, that's where they're most effective, and they should use one drum beat for the chorus and the other for the verse, instead of repeating the same drum beat in both the verse in the chorus. That helps us create that contrast that's really key. Well done if you picked up on either of those points. Let's summarise today's lesson. We can add variation to our drum groove by using the ride cymbal and varying the drum patterns. Drum fills are used at the end of sections and phrases to highlight changes. They involve varying kick, snare, or tom-tom patterns. A crash cymbal on beat one of the new section is an effective way to end a drum fill, and verse-chorus form is normally as follows, intro, verse chorus, verse chorus, middle eight, chorus, and then outro. So that's the end of today's lesson. I hope you've got really stuck in to creating these contrasting grooves, and feel like you've got some tools in your toolbox now to work really interestingly with drums when you're composing. I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson, thank you.