Jazz Drummer’s Workshop Elvin Jones-Style Triplet Fills Part 3: More Two-Bar Patterns by John Xepoleas Welcome to the third and final lesson in our series on creating Elvin Jones–style triplet fills. This time we’re creating high-energy two-bar fills. Let’s begin with the sticking pattern we’ve been using throughout the lesson. Practice this until you’re totally comfortable with it and it becomes part of your muscle memory. Now play the right-hand part using the ride cymbal and bass drum. Make the ride and bass drum the lead parts in the pattern by accenting them and playing them with an aggressive feel. The left-hand notes on the snare should be played softly. This version is the same as Example 2, except that the rack tom is played on beat 4 of the first measure and the snare is played on beat 2 of the second measure. Now we’ll break away from the […]

July 2015 Issue