In this free drum lesson, Dave Atkinson teaches you how to play three 5/4 drum fills. These 5/4 drum fills are 8th note- and 16th note-based. They’re a great way of introducing you to 5/4 drum fills, and of instructing you on how to add the bass drum to your drum fills. These 5/4 drum fills are played at two different tempos. This will allow you to have an idea of how they sound when played at slow and fast tempos.
If you’re delving into the world of 5/4 odd-time signature for the first time, check the free drum lesson “How To Count 5/4 Odd-Time” before you give this one a go. That free drum lesson is crucial for developing your ability to play and feel 5/4 as naturally as 4/4. Hence, watching that video will actually help you learn these drum fills a lot quicker.
You can use 4/4 drum fills for coming up with some fresh ideas in 5/4 odd-time signature. To do so, add an extra quarter note to any 4/4 drum fill, or mix five quarter notes from different drum fills. If you’d like to start working on this concept right away, take the drum fills from the free drum lessons “Beginner 16th Note Linear Drum Fills” and “8th Note Drum Fills” to get started. Some of the patterns from these free drum lessons are packed with bass drum strokes. So mixing them up is a cool away of working on your ability to incorporate bass drum into your 5/4 drum fills.
If you’d like to learn 5/4 drum beats to go along with these 5/4 drum fills, move on to the free drum lesson “Beginner 5/4 Drum Beats“. If you’d rather keep working on 5/4 drum fills, check the free drum lesson “Intermediate 5/4 Drum Fills“.