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8/12/2019 Free Drum Lesson

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Free Drum Lesson: Linear, Gospel &

Triplet Style Drum Licks & Fills

A lot of drummers today are playing a style of drumming known as Gospel Drumming.This style of drumming evolved from playing along to Gospel Music which first came

out of African-American churches in the 193.

!t has since grown and adapted over the years so that it"s influence can #e heard in

modern Gospel$ %n&$ %ap and 'op music too.

Gospel drumming$ like the style of music$ is mostly #ased around the swung si(teenth

note. !t involves predominately triplet or swung #ased rhythms at medium to fast temposand with a lot of energy. !t"s for this reason that this style of drumming has #ecome so

popular and e(citing amongst drummer today.

Although impossi#le to classify$ ! like to think of Gospel drumming licks and fills as

playing mostly linear si(teenth note triplets$ thirty second notes and hand)#ass drum patterns. This seems to #e the essence of drumming in this style. ! love it.

The most e(citing aspect of drumming for me is the linear$ hand)foot com#ination type

patterns. There"s something very cool a#out involving the #ass drum in your drum fills as

well as playing fast triplet #ased patterns around the drums. !t also turns out that it isn"tthat difficult in theory...with a little practice. *o$ with this in mind$ let"s start the lesson.

&asic +inear ,and)oot &uilding &locks

Most of the time Gospel +inear style chops are played through triplets. &ecause the style

of Gospel music is predominately played in a swung or triplet #ased meter$ the si(teenthnote triplet su#division lends itself really well to the style of music. *traight si(teenth

notes ust don"t sound right as would any other straight meter played in a swung style of

music.

*o$ #ecause our Gospel chops are going to #e played through si(teenth note triplets our patterns are going to #e #ased in groups of three and si(. These /#uilding #locks/ are

simply patterns to #e learnt and then com#ined with other #locks to form longer patternsand phrases.

,ere are the triplet #ased linear #locks that are going to #e used in this lesson. The

suggested stickings for each #lock is written #elow each.

1. Three Notes: Two an!s"#ne $ass



%. Three Notes: #ne an!"Two $ass

. Si' Notes: Four an!s"Two $ass

(. Si' Notes: Fi)e an!s"#ne $ass

These happen to #e four of my favourite common hand and foot com#inations. They"re

pretty cool on their own when used as individual drum fills and linear grooves #ut wewant to do more with them.

! am a#le to play these four patterns at slow and fast tempos with a single #ass drum

pedal or a dou#le #ass drum pedal 0depending on the tempo. ! have tried to get these

patterns to feel as natural as possi#le so that ! am then a#le to apply the ne(t step2

com#ine them to make more interesting and musical linear patterns.

! recommend you do the same. irst learn these four linear patterns 0&uilding &locks if

you like so that you are a#le to play them smoothly and at a range of tempos. nce you

feel ready you can move onto the ne(t step.



4om#ined +inear Gospel *tyle +icks 5 ills 0Triplet and Thirty *econd 6otes

This lesson is only focussing on the a#ove four /#uilding #locks/ from which we can

com#ine to make more complicated linear patterns. *aying that though$ there are stillmany possi#le com#inations to play with. This section of the lesson will focus on ust a

few of these potential com#inations. &are this in mind when trying these out for yourself$the possi#ilities are endless with these com#ination ideas.

Gospel Linear Triplet Style *'ample 1

This drum lick takes linear #uilding #locks 1 and 3 to create a com#ined Gospel +inearfill idea. 7ou can see that the #eats of the #ar have #een la#elled a#ove the music so that

the alignment of the groupings can easily #e counted.

This particular idea takes a rather cool idea where a pattern of nine is created using a

group of si( and a group of three. 7ou can see that the first #eat and a half of the #ar is

made up from this group si( and three and then again on the ne(t #eat and a half. The

final #eat of the #ar is resolved with a simple group of si(.

*o already you can hopefully see the fun that can #e had with com#ining these simple

#locks into more complicated and fun linear style gospel licks. ,ere$ we"ve created

groups of nine that move across the #eat of the #ar creating a very sophisticated rhythmicfeel.

Gospel Linear Thirty Secon! Note Style *'ample 1

Another rhythmic idea you hear played a lot in %n&)Gospel style drumming are thirtysecond note linear patterns. These are played at a faster rate than si(teenth note triplets

and so can #e harder to play more accurately.

'laying thirty second note linear style gospel fills really deserves it"s own lesson #ut for

now !"m going to introduce this concept #y using our four #uilding #locks from a#ove

and applying them through thirty second notes.



The a#ove linear pattern contains a whole #ar of thirty second notes with the same

grouping of /&uilding &locks/ from a#ove. 8e have two groups of a *i()Three followed

#y the single group of *i( 0&locks 3$ 1$ 3$ 1$ 3. ach individual #uilding #lock has #eenla#elled on the music using a little #lock #ar written a#ove the notes indicating where the

#lock starts and stops.

!nteresting 'oint: 7ou can see that something cool has happened here. A whole #ar of

si(teenth note triplets takes up e(actly three #eats of a #ar of thirty second notes whentransferred over. This means that we have a neat and easily counted single #eat 0#eat ; in

this case to fill with what ever we want. !n this case it"s #een filled with a #eats worth of

thirty second notes.

This is cool #ecause all of our si(teenth note triplet linear licks can #e transferred over to

thirty second notes with only one #eat left over each time. 6eat$ tidy and easy to

remem#er for future e(perimentation and amming.

Gospel Linear Triplet Style *'ample %

!n this e(ample we"re using the same #uilding #locks #ut in a different order. <ust think

how many different com#inations could #e possi#le with ust these two #locks. This

e(cites me #ecause ! only have to learn a few #asic linear #locks and then simply

com#ine them to create all the cool patterns ! want.

Gospel Linear Thirty Secon! Note Style *'ample %

Again$ we can transfer over all of the triplet linear gospel patterns into a thirty second

note linear gospel lick. !n this e(ample though we"re e(perimenting with playing differentsu#divisions within the same #ar for the first time.

&eat ; is filled with si( triplet notes made up from two groups of three. This has a cool

affect #ecause we have two groups of three played through thirty second notes ust #efore

the two groups of three played through si(teenth note triplets. This makes the patternsound like it"s slowing down as we move into a slower rate of notes. Mi(ing the



su#divisions in this way can create some really cool patterns with the tempo appearing to

#e pushed and pulled=

Gospel Linear Triplet Style *'ample

This triplet linear gospel chop uses /&uilding &locks/ > and ; from the #eginning of this

drum lesson.

Gospel Linear Thirty Secon! Note Style *'ample

And here we have the same linear pattern through thirty second notes.

4om#ined +inear Gospel *tyle +icks 5 ills 0Triplet$ Thirty *econd 6otes A6?

*i(teenth 6otes

6ow$ ust #ecause Gospel music tends to #e naturally a swung or triplet #ased music$ this

does not mean that you don"t get e(ceptions. *ome music is straight and played in a funkystyle and some swung music #enefits from the playing of straight notes 0si(teenths and

thirty second notes. 8e also ust want to #e a#le to play these patterns$ that we"ve

practiced so hard$ in more places and with more possi#ilities.

This ne(t part of the lesson will look at playing the triplet #ased linear #locks withdifferent su#divisions including si(teenth notes.

Gospel Linear +i'e! Su!i)ision *'ample 1



This is a cool idea using #lock 1 and playing it through si(teenth notes and triplets. The

triplets start on the /@/ of #eat >. This one group of three is played three times to fill a

whole #ar using these su#divisions.

Gospel Linear +i'e! Su!i)ision *'ample %

*tarting to get a #it more complicated now with all of the possi#le com#inations and note

values #ut still sounds awesome=

Gospel Linear +i'e! Su!i)ision *'ample

This is also a nice idea where the same group of si( is played first through si(teenths$

then triplets and then thirty second notes creating the affect of the tempo increasing as the

note rates increase. Two groups of three thirty second notes resolve the #ar starting on the/e/ of #eat ;.

Tasteful +inear Gospel *tyle +icks 5 ills 8ithin Grooves

+et"s #e honest$ so far some of the ideas given in this lesson are a little over the top or

chop heavy for most music. 6ot everyone will appreciate you letting rip around thedrums with the latest thirty second note linear lick you"ve ust learnt. *ometimes less is

more and sometimes su#tlety is the order of the day.

This ne(t section of the lesson will look at ust a few ways these gospel linear drum fills

can #e used within a drum groove so not to interrupt the flow of music too much whilestill adding a #it of spice and e(citement.

Taste-ul Linear Gospel Style Groo)es *'ample 1



This drum groove has a rather tasty triplet linear style idea starting on #eat 3 of the #ar

using #lock 1 from the #eginning of this lesson. The snare drum notes in #rackets areghost notes and should #e played uietly so not to get in the way of the accented snare

drum notes on #eats > and ;. 6otice how the ,i-,at"s are still playing on #eats 3 and the

/@/ of #eat 3. The ,i-,at pattern has not #een interrupted #y the linear lick. 'retty tasty$ehB

Taste-ul Linear Gospel Style Groo)es *'ample %

This is the same idea as the previous e(cept now we have #lock 3 from the #eginning of

this lesson instead. ! recommend that you play the ,i-,at and snare drum notes asdou#les$ that"s %%++ respectively. Again$ play the snare drum notes uietly.

Taste-ul Linear Gospel Style Groo)es *'ample

*ome drummers might recogniCe this groove idea as #elonging to the great <ohn&onham. The lick is known as the /&onham &roken &ass ?rum Triplets 0you can view

another drum lesson $ including a full video lesson$ discussing this su#ect #y clicking

here. The ,i-,at is still grooving on the eighth notes keeping the flow moving while

adding a little spice underneath.

Taste-ul Linear Gospel Style Groo)es *'ample (

http://www.drumstheword.com/free-video-drum-lesson-bonham-bass-drum-triplets-drum-filllick

http://www.drumstheword.com/free-video-drum-lesson-bonham-bass-drum-triplets-drum-filllick



This final e(ample attempts to maintain the #ack #eat on #eats > and ; while playing

around with notes in #etween the #ack #eat. All of the patterns are still played singlehanded 0%+%+ #ut move around the tom toms and #ack to the snare drum in key places.

This is more of a drum fill than a drum groove #ut one that maintains a strong #ack #eat

while also throwing in a few gospel style linear licks.



,ave fun=

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