Drum Fill for "I Can't Help Myself" by the Four Tops: Part 1

Video Transcript

JOEL SIEGEL: So that signature Motown fill, it's usually played with a couple of toms. And if you've got them setup, go ahead and play them with that but you can also just play it on the snare drum. This is what it sounds like. I'll play it in context for you. Okay, so it's just a snare fill. It's with the hands. Okay? Breaking it down in literal terms, it's two sixteenth notes and then a sixteenth note triplet that are--that lead into a couple of eighth notes, okay? So this is what's exactly what's happening. We have two sixteenth notes on beat three, three-e. So the first two sixteenth notes, three-e, and then instead of finishing out the second half of beat three with another two sixteenth notes, and-a. Instead of the two notes, you just fit three in there. Okay? And it's evenly spaced so it's what they call a sixteenth note triplet, okay, which sounds maybe really intimidating depending on where you are but it's not. There's a lot of different ways to play it, and for me, the easiest way to play it is to double the right. Okay? If you haven't worked on your doubles then it's going to be a little more difficult. But if you watch my hands, I'll slow it down. One e and a, okay, so I'll play it right here then you can see what my hands are doing. Two, three, four, one, two. One, two, three, four. Two, three, four. Two, three, four. Okay. So I have that little sixteenth note triplet that comes out of doing that double in my right, kinda sneaking in that extra note. But again, it's all still even into that downbeat of four, okay? And take a look at the next clip, we'll finish out the fill and put it into context.

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