Flams are a great concept to play on the drum kit, as the sound always adds more depth to the beats and fills that you play.
We’re going to look at 15 different flam drum fills, and they’ll be separated into 8th note, 16th note, and triplet ideas.
All of these fills can be used in any style of music, so they’re very versatile. You’ll need to know how to play a good flam stroke before tackling any of these, so make sure that you can do that first.
Let’s get started!
Contents
8th Notes
Flam Fill 1
We’re going to start out with a simple idea here. You’re just going to play flams on all of the main beats of the bar. You’ll move them around for each count. So on beat 1, you’ll play the snare drum. On beat 2, you’ll play the high tom, etc.
You’re going to play bass drum notes on all of the “and” counts to fill in the 8th notes. This creates a nice 8th note drum fill with flams around the entire drum kit.
Flam Fill 2
In this next fill, we’re going to keep it as 8th notes with flams around the kit. However, we’re going to play two kick drum notes in between each flam for most of the bar.
This is a classic application of a flam stroke, so you’ll hear drummers playing this exact idea all the time.
We’ll speed it up to make it more dense a bit later. But for now, just focus on playing the flams and kick strokes very cleanly.
Flam Fill 3
This fill will start with three 8th notes on the snare drum and floor tom at the same time. You’ll then play a bass drum note on the “and” of beat 2, followed by two more flams on the snare with bass drum strokes in between them.
The fill sounds great when you give it a bit of a crescendo, meaning you’ll start a bit softer at the beginning and then really put a lot of energy into the flams at the end.
Flam Fill 4
A new concept here is to play three snare drum notes in a row, but you’re going to flam the first one. This can feel a bit uncomfortable if you’ve never done it before, but it’s such a great tool to use on the drums.
After those three notes, you’re going to play two kick drums on the “and” of beat 2 and on beat 3. Then, you’ll play a flam on the “and” of beat 3, a bass drum on beat 4, and a final snare drum on the “and” of beat 4.
Flam Fill 5
For our final 8th note flam fill, we’re going to add rests into the mix. Leaving gaps between notes is a great way of building anticipation in a drum fill.
For this one, you’re going to play a flam on the snare drum on beat 1. You’re then going to play flams on the floor tom. The first one will be on the “and” count of beat 2 and the second will be on beat 4.
16th Notes
Flam Fill 6
For this first 16th note fill, you’re going to play a flam on the snare drum on beat 1, followed by normal snare strokes on the “and” and “a” counts.
On beat 2, you’re going to play another snare stroke, followed by a bass drum.
You’ll then repeat the pattern on beat 3, but you’ll move to the floor tom for those 16th notes after the flam.
Flam Fill 7
You’re going to start this fill out by playing a single stroke around the drums. You’ll play one stroke on each drum, but you’ll play a kick drum on the “a” count of beat 1 instead of playing your left hand.
That will lead into a flam on the snare for beat 2. You’ll then repeat the single stroke around the drums pattern, ending the fill with two flams on the snare drum.
Flam Fill 8
We’re going to bring rests back into the picture for this one. You’ll play three flams around the drums with rests in between them.
You’ll then play three floor tom notes on beat 3, ending with a kick just before the flam on the snare for beat 4.
Flam Fill 9
This next fill is an absolute banger, and it’s definitely one of the best ones on this list.
You’ll start it by playing three notes on the snare drum, with the first one being a flam stroke. You’ll then play a bass drum on the “a” count to finish the 4-note grouping.
On beat 2, you’ll play a straight single stroke roll with the first stroke also being a flam.
Beat 3 will start with a kick drum, followed by a flam on the high tom on the “e” count. There’ll be a kick drum on the “and” count, followed by a floor tom on the “a” count.
You’ll then play the snare drum with your left hand on beat 4, followed by a kick drum, flam, and then a normal stroke.
Flam Fill 10
Here’s another fill where you’ll play a flam followed by two kick drum notes. It’s similar to the one we did earlier, but playing this idea in 16th notes instead of 8th notes makes it sound a lot more powerful.
You’ll move the flams around the drums, and then you’ll only play a single kick drum note after the flam on beat 4 so that you can round off the bar with two snare drum strokes.
Triplets
Flam Fill 11
This is what many people call the “bucket-of-fish” fill, because that’s what it sounds like when you play it on the drums.
You’ll start by playing a flam on the snare drum for beat 1. You’ll then play single notes around the kit in 16th note triplets, ending on a kick drum.
You’ll repeat that pattern to end with a flam on the snare drum on beat 4.
Flam Fill 12
In this fill, you’re going to play a single stroke roll in 16th note triplets. You’ll go around the kit, ending with a few notes on the floor tom before playing a kick drum for the last note on beat 1.
On beat 2, you’ll just play two 8th note flams in a row on the snare drum.
You’ll repeat the 16th note triplet pattern on the floor tom on beat 3, and then you’ll end the fill with a flam and kick drum on beat 4.
Flam Fill 13
This fill will also have two consecutive kick drums between each flam, but they’ll be a lot quicker due to them being 16th note triplets.
This will be the most challenging drum fill so far!
Flam Fill 14
For this fill, you’ll start it off with single strokes on the floor tom for the first two beats. However, you’ll play a flam at the beginning of beats 1 and 2.
You’ll then alternate between the bass drum, floor tom, and snare drum on beat 3, ending the fill off with powerful singles on beat 4.
Flam Fill 15
Here’s another “bucket-of-fish” drum fill idea. However, we’re also going to mix straight 16th notes by playing those on the snare drum at the end.
This fill sounds incredible when you play it at high speeds, as you get a sort of “sweeping” sound when playing the “bucket-of-fish” triplet pattern around the drums.
