The 8421 exercises are designed to put into use the beats and fills that students have been learning at each level. Each individual exercise is 20 bars in length. They get the student playing 8 bar phrases, 4 bar phrases and then busier passages with drum fills every second bar and then every bar. The intention is to really drill these beats & fills into the students in a fun, yet challenging way.
Each 8421 booklet uses all the beats from the worksheet they are associated with & drum fills from the relevant level. At the beginner level there are two 8421 exercises for every beat; one with 8th note fills and one with 16th note fills. At higher levels (when I’ve finished writing them), there will be just one exercise for each beat.
Each 8421 booklet has three sets of drum fills associated with it. The fills are repeated across multiple beats to help the student really get a grasp on them and add them to their playing vocabulary. Beat 1 on any sheet will have the same fills as beat 4, beat 7 and beat 10. Beat 2 will share it’s fills with beats 5, 8 and 11. Beat 3 will share it’s fills with beats 6, 9, and 12.
The fills are also repeated across the different hi-hat patterns – so the 8421 exercises for 8th note rock beats 1, will have the same fills as 1/4 note rock beats 1, 16th note rock beats 1 and two handed 16th note rock beats 1. The idea is not to overwhelm the student with too many fills and to bring these fills into their playing vocabulary so they can reproduce them with out too much thought. After all, repetition is the mother of learning.
I assign these to students once they have completed the relevant beat worksheet and fill worksheets – we’ll often run through page 1 in class. I normally just email the files to them as I don’t want to print out so many pages for them and most of them have a tablet device (iPad) or laptop computer at home that they can use when practicing. I give them as homework exercises and how much I ask them to do depends on the student. For some students it’s just the first page. For other students it’s the pages with the same fills – 1,4,7 & 10 for example. For other students it might be the first 3 pages. Normally I check on their progress on the next lesson by having them play one or two of them as a warm up exercise. Once they can get through the exercises, then I increase the tempo.
Hopefully, once the student has mastered, for example, the 8421 8th note rock beats 1 booklet, then the 8421 1/4 note rock beats 1 booklet should be easier as the fills are the same. However, the challenge of approaching the fills from the 1/4 note hi-hat pattern will be new and may throw their timing off at first.
I’ve included the stickings for the fills on the first 3 exercises, but not on the later ones as the fills repeat and I’d like the students to memorise the sticking. They can always refer back to the first 3 exercises to pick up the sticking if they can’t remember it.
Here’s a table showing the drum fill work sheets your students should study prior to the 8421 exercises and in addition to the associated “beat” worksheet. This isn’t mandatory though, you can use these booklets to introduce the fill concepts to them.
| 8421 Booklet | Fill Work Sheets |
|---|---|
| BEGINNER LEVEL | |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 1 | 8th note fills 1, 8th note fills 2, 16th note fills 1, short 16th note fills 1. |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 2 | As above + 8th note fills 3, 8th note fills 5 16th note fills 2, short 16th note fills 2. |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 3 | As above + Groove fills 1, Groove fills 2, 8th note fills 4. |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 5 | As above + 8th note fills 7 |
| PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL | |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 7 | 16th note fills #3 & 4. (Inc. Short versions) |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 8 | As above + 16th note fills 5 & 6 (Inc. Short versions) |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 9 | As above + 16th note fills 7 (Inc. Short versions), Open Hi-Hat Fills 1, 2, & 3. Groove Fills 4. |
| 8th, 1/4, 16th, or 2 handed 16th note rock beats 10 | As Above + BackBeat Fills 1 & 2 + Part-Groove Fills 1 & 2 |
| 8th Note Triplet Rock Beats 1 | 8th Note Triplet Fills 1 (Inc. Short versions) |
| 8th Note Triplet Rock Beats 2 | As above + 8th note Triplet Fills 2 (Inc. Short version) |
| 8th Note Triplet Rock Beats 3 | As above + 8th note Triplet Fills 3 & 5 (Inc. Short versions) |
I’ll be adding further 8421 booklets in the near future for the Pre-intermediate level and intermediate. I hope your students enjoy these as much as mine do.