Drum fill generator and trainer: land every fill on the one
Free drum fill generator and trainer. Generate a fill or pick one of 22, groove, play it and land on the one while the click drops out. Every landing is timed.
The hard part of a fill is not the notes. It is leaving the groove, playing something busier, and coming back in exactly on the one. This drum fill generator and trainer drills that one skill: generate a fill or pick one from the ladder, groove for a few bars, play the fill, land. The click drops out, the tempo climbs after clean landings, and every landing is measured in milliseconds.
What this tool includes
How the fill generator works
Choose a length: one beat, two beats or a full bar. The fill always finishes on the barline, so the next downbeat is the landing. Choose a feel: eighths, triplets, sixteenths or sextuplets. Every note sits on that grid. Choose the drums: the snare alone, the toms (a path from the snare down to the floor tom), or toms and kick, where the kick ends each beat. Tick Leave gaps for fills with rests in them. The beat itself is always played, so you can hear where you are. The generator picks the sticking (singles, doubles or paradiddles) and the accents, writes out the count, and sets a start and goal tempo for the speed trainer. Press New fill for another one in the same style. Each fill is played, scored and sped up exactly like the fills on the ladder.
Eighth notes
Leave the groove, play even notes, land on the one. Two snares on 4, Snare to toms on 3 and 4, A bar of eighths down the kit.
Sixteenth notes
Four notes to a beat, around the kit, without speeding up. One beat of sixteenths, Two beats around the toms, A full bar of sixteenths, Eighth and two sixteenths, Hands and kick sixteenths.
Stickings
Doubles, paradiddles and accents that move the sound around. Doubles around the kit, Paradiddle around the toms, Accents on the a.
Triplets
Switch from the groove into three to a beat and back out. One triplet on 4, Triplets down the toms, Hands, hands, kick triplets, A full bar of triplets.
Sextuplets
Six to a beat, rolls and hand-and-foot licks. Sextuplet on 4, Six-stroke roll, RLRLKK, Sextuplets around the kit.
Across the beat
Groups of three and five that cross the beat and still land on the one. Groups of three, Groups of five, Dotted-eighth accents.
How to use this tool
- Generate a fill, or pick one from the ladder. Each one lists its notes, the sticking and the count.
- Press Play with Hear it on. The drummer plays the groove, the fill and the crash on the one, with a click under it.
- Switch to Play it. Now only the click plays, and you play the groove, the fill and the landing on your kit, a practice pad or the tap pad.
- Choose where the click drops out: through the fill, for the whole fill bar, or everything but the first bar.
- Watch each landing. Three clean landings in a row and the speed trainer adds four BPM; three misses and it backs off.
Practice tips
- Count out loud through the fill. If the count speeds up, so does the fill.
- Keep your hi-hat foot playing quarter notes under the fill. It carries the pulse while your hands are busy.
- Most drummers land early. Let the last note of the fill take its full length before the crash.
- Practise the fill slower than you think you need to. The goal tempo comes quickly once the landing is clean.
- Wear headphones when you use the mic, so it hears your drums and not the click.
Frequently asked questions
How does it know if I landed on time?
It listens through a MIDI drum kit, your microphone, or taps on the screen or keyboard. It compares your crash on the one with where the beat really is, measured against how you normally sit on the click, so a slow touch screen or a mic delay does not count against you.
What counts as a clean landing?
Within 30 milliseconds of the one, with at least some of the fill played. Within 12 milliseconds is dead on. Past 60 milliseconds the band would hear you come in early or late.
What does the click drop-out do?
It takes the click away where fills go wrong. With the click out for the fill you have to keep the pulse yourself while your hands are busy, and the click only tells you on the one whether you kept it.
Do I need a drum kit?
No. A practice pad with the mic, or tapping the fill on the screen, works. A MIDI e-kit gives the most precise reading.
Why does the fill rush?
Busy notes feel like they should go faster, and moving round the toms takes time the hands try to win back. The trainer shows where your fill ended up against the beat, so you can hear whether the rush happened in the fill or on the one.