In this free drum lesson, Jared Falk, of the DrumLessons.com team of instructors, takes you through your first drum fills in 7/8 odd-time signature. These three patterns are a great way of getting you started with 7/8 odd-time signature drum fills. These drum fills will also have you working on your feel for playing in 7/8 odd-time signature, hand-to-foot coordination and playing drum fills with rests. Give this lesson a whirl – you won’t be disappointed.
If you’re delving into the world of 7/8 odd-time signature for the first time, we encourage you to check the free drum lesson “Learning 7/8 Odd Time” before you go through this one. There, you’ll be given some basic exercises for developing your feel for playing in 7/8 odd-time signature, as well as some tips on how to count in 7/8 and on how to use drum beats and drum fills in 4/4 to come up with variations in 7/8.
If you’re having any timing issues with these 7/8 odd-time signature drum fills take a step back. Focus on exercise #1 and play it on the snare drum for a while. Don’t perform this exercise in a beat-fill-beat combination from the get-go. Play it on its own and along to a metronome. Since this is a fairly basic hand pattern, you can focus your attention on your timing issues and in getting your hands and your mind to feel and think in 7/8. This will help you a lot in getting you to feel 7/8 rather naturally, and therefore, in being able to play these drum fills accurately with ease. Don’t forget to count out loud as you practice in 7/8 – it’s essential for developing your feel for this odd-time signature.
Once you’re done with this free drum lesson, we encourage you to check the free drum lesson “Intermediate 7/8 Drum Fills“. This free drum lesson is the second of a series of three that will have you learning beginner to advanced drum fills in 7/8 odd-time signature. If you’d like to apply the tips provided with the free drum lesson “Learning 7/8 Odd Time“, on how to use drum fills in 4/4 to come up with variations in 7/8 odd-time signature, we encourage you to use the free drum lesson “Beginner 16th Note Linear Drum Fills” as your guinea pig.