Triplets are a fantastic tool to use when playing drum fills. They bring a lot of depth to your playing, especially when you mix them in with “straight” grooves.
Once you start playing triplet drum fills, you open up a whole world of possibilities. So, we’re going to look at four different ideas to explore surrounding triplets and how you can play them around the drums.
The first few examples will be relatively simple to learn and play, but things will start to get really exciting nearer to the end.
Contents
8th Note Triplet Drum Fills
For these first few drum fills, you’re going to play 8th note triplets. This means that there are three notes for every main beat of the bar.
Triplet Drum Fill 1
Up first we have a relatively simple fill, but it’s a great one to get used to how it feels to play triplets across the drums.
You’ll start by playing six notes on the snare drum for beats 1 and 2. You’ll then repeat the same pattern on the floor tom for beats 3 and 4.
You’ll be playing single strokes here, meaning you’ll alternate your hand for each stroke.
Triplet Drum Fill 2
We’re going to bring the bass drum into the picture with this fill. On beat 1, you’ll play two snare drums, followed by the bass drum on the “let” count.
You’ll then repeat that pattern on beat 2, but you’ll play it with the rack tom. You’ll move back to the snare drum for beat 3, and then you’ll end the fill off with the floor tom on beat 4.
Triplet Drum Fill 3
For this fill, we’re going to reverse the pattern from the last one. Instead of playing the bass drum every third note, you’re going to play it first.
You’re then going to play alternating notes between the floor tom and snare drum. So, it will be kick drum, floor tom, snare drum. And then you’ll repeat that four times to complete the drum fill.
Triplet Drum Fill 4
The fills have been linear up until this point, which means that we’ve only played one drum at a time. We’re now going to play the snare drum and floor tom together on beats 1 and 2. You’ll play two consecutive kick drums after each of those.
To round the fill out, you’re just going to play alternating singles on the snare drum.
The trickiest part of this drum fill is playing the bass drum notes cleanly, which can become especially tricky at higher speeds.
16th Note Triplet Drum Fills
We’re now going to move onto 16th note triplets. You’ll get double the number of notes for each main count, meaning there will be six instead of three.
Triplet Drum Fill 5
Like we did in the first drum fill with 8th notes, this particular fill will be all about getting used to how 16th note triplets feel to play around the drums.
You’ll start by playing them on the snare drum on beat 1. You’ll move to the rack tom on beat 2. You’ll then play two groups of 16th note triplets on the floor tom for beats 3 and 4.
Triplet Drum Fill 6
Here’s a single stroke drum fill where you move around the kit. You’ll often hear drummers playing something like this in straight 16th notes, but the trick here is to play 16th note triplets.
You’ll play a single note on the snare drum and rack tom, followed by three notes on the floor tom, followed by a kick drum. You’ll then repeat that four times.
Triplet Drum Fill 7
Let’s get back to the right, left, kick pattern that we played earlier. For this example, we’re going to play that pattern in 16th note triplets, and we’re going to switch between the snare drum and floor tom.
Just note that there’s a third snare drum on the last note of the bar, and that will lead you to start the next bar with your left hand on the crash.
Triplet Drum Fill 8
There’s a few things going on in this fill. On beat 1, you’re going to play both hands together on the snare drum and floor tom. You’re then going to play two kick drums in a row. After doing that twice, you’re going to play singles around the kit for beat 2.
Beat 3 will have a similar pattern to beat 1, and then you’ll play a solid flam on the snare drum on beat 4.
Adding Dynamics
Dynamics have huge power to transform your drum fills. For the next few examples, we’re going to add in rimshots and ghost notes on the snare drum.
Triplet Drum Fill 9
For this fill, you’re going to play loud accents on all of the main counts of the bar. You’ll move between the drums to play them.
You’ll fill in the rest by playing ghost notes with your left hand on the snare drum. We’re back to playing 8th note triplets here to get used to the idea.
When you speed this up, you’ll need to heavily utilize your fingers to get those ghost notes sounding clean.
Triplet Drum Fill 10
This fill is similar to the last one, but we’re doubling the subdivision to play 16th note triplets instead. You’ll play two loud strokes with your right hand for every main count, and you’ll fill the rest as ghost notes with your left hand.
Triplet Drum Fill 11
There are two main ideas in this fill. On beat 1, you’re going to play the right, left, kick pattern with an accent for the right and a ghost note for the left.
On beat 2, you’re going to play all accents with a single stroke on the snare drum. You’ll then repeat what you did for beat 1 on beat 3, and then you’ll play a single stroke again on the floor tom to end things off.
Triplet Drum Fill 12
This fill will have a combination of accents and ghost notes in between kick drum notes for the first two beats of the bar.
Beat 3 will all be on the snare drum. Beat 4 will be around the drums. Make sure to focus on the dynamics here to make this drum fill sound as good as possible.
Advanced Triplet Drum Fills
The last few drum fills are the most challenging, but learning them will be highly rewarding. They include a combination of everything we’ve looked at so far, so make sure you’ve nailed the previous drum fills first before getting to them.
Triplet Drum Fill 13
This next fill is the most common iteration of a six stroke roll. It’s one of the 40 rudiments, but it sounds fantastic when you play it as 16th note triplets and incorporate dynamics.
You essentially want to accent the first and last note of each group of 6.
Triplet Drum Fill 14
For this fill, we’re going to play the right, left, left pattern on beats 1 and 3. We’re then going to play the six stroke roll on beats six stroke roll pattern on beats 2 and 4.
Moving between these two stickings always creates an amazing sound on the drums, especially when you tastefully move them around the kit.
Triplet Drum Fill 15
Here’s another popular pattern that pro drummers regularly use when playing 16th note triplets. You’re going to start the pattern off with the bass drum.
You’re then going to alternate between your right and left hand for the next three notes. Finally, you’re going to play two ghost notes on the snare with your left hand.
