Linear patterns – whether in drum beat or drum fill format – are patterns that are played without overlapping strokes. You won’t find any unison figure in this type of pattern. In this free drum lesson, Jared Falk teaches three linear drum fills – known as hand-to-feet combinations – that you can use to further enrich your drum fill library and get used to playing this type of idea around the drum set. During the video, Jared goes into some detail about how to use these three drum fills for coming up with linear patterns of your own as well.
As soon as you’re able to play these drum fills as written, add the hi-hat to the mix by pressing on its pedal for all the quarter notes. This will add a completely new dimension to these drum fills, making them way more challenging to perform.
If you’d like to keep exploring this concept, go through the linear drum fills while pressing the hi-hat pedal on all the 8th notes and on the off-beat 8th notes. You can also use the drumless version of the song “Calling” from the rock band Dying Hearts Desire to practice these linear drum fills or any of your own variations.
Once you’re done with this drum lesson, you can take the linear concept and apply it to drum beats. We encourage you to check out the free drum lesson “Beginner Drum Chops” (‘chops’ often refer to linear patterns) to get you started right away. If you’d rather keep furthering your knowledge on linear drum fills, take a look at “Intermediate 16th Note Linear Drum Fills” and “Beginner Double Bass Drum Fills“.