DRUM LESSON "Intermediate drum fills"

[PNRCrossroad007]

thanks dude. good video. post more

[jofujenkins]

it has been scientifically proven that Mike Johnston can do neurosurgery by just using the prescision and deft touch of his RIGHT FOOT.

[sickstix182]

your videos have come a loong way in the past 4 years 

[cristoMurray321]

i have been playing for 3 years and im having trouble getting the fast foot speed

[Abnormalties]

i dig the lick.  thank you.

[jasonw1000]

Really enjoyed this vid. I am working up the speed on the single pedal so I can leave my other foot free for hi-hat. I have a double kick but just want to get it down on the single. God bless and keep on rock'n!!

[Flippergob]

Can I absorb your powers please!?

[LucasMacintyre]

what a dirty upstroke for hitting your splash! love it!

great video, really helped me out man

[sidinator3000]

3:46 upstroke!



[Sonybolo]

Brew datts cool ghee :)

[1wayne12345]

very nice licks. very helpful.

You have very good foot technique. I'm sure it will come for me. Thanks for the video.

[xEmanRcks]

awesome video

[koopatrev]

BOOM!

[SyqLAWL]

this is the most common pattern ever, however, i will say that ur single foot speed is most impressive.

[SyqLAWL]

this is the most common pattern ever

[CrAD7861]

That helped me out a lot. Thnx

[fkthlf]

OMG I CAN DO THIS SO AWESOMEEEE THANK YOU!!!!

[Saromi7]

O.O ok....

[Ghostofgrace92]

at !:44 thats the fill John Bonham uses alot, Thanks so much, i've been wanting to learn it

[darkoskaterboy]

This isn't advanced. you guys just need to stop thinking that just because you can play a Beatles song that you're not a beginner any more.

[finchfreak22]

Holy crap this is something I need to work on hahahahahahahaha. I think it's crazy that drummers can b that good but do it with sich ease! I hope to b like that one day. Lol I have a long way to go...

[LegitNando]

Could you use this fill as a beat for a song if you keep It constant and on time?

[karstd]

This shit is easy for good drummers and hard for shitty drummers. Therefore, it's somewhere in the intermediate stage.

[frankthetank081]

I'm going to defend Mike's opinion here that its "intermediate". He's also right in saying that the way he plays at the end is beyond intermediate. I find this fill in my drumming experience to be really similar to Carter Beauford from Dave Matthews. He does really awesome fills using an insane amount of drums/symbals but most of them are intermediate patterns played at superfast speeds on like 7/8 different pieces of the set.

[johnyboyproduction]

Thanks for the vid this is actualy the first fill i practice! THanks man keep posting!

[jbaytheman44]

Break it down and build up speed then it wont seem so"ridiculos"

[stardude3396]

why are people saying its not intermidiate ? just do it slower

[Th3Art0fRu1n]

its not intermediate if you are taking speed into consideration.

[Josh230607]

Thanks for posting this Mike. This lick can be used either slow or fast and they both sound bad ass.

[sXeBrutis]

Hey, Mike! I just want to ask if that fill is possible without "heel toe" technique but still using a single pedal? ;D

[SucramNumber2]

that was really good. loove the beat.

[drummerralph7]

Mike... i hear ya man. this is definitely beginner/ intermediate. the pattern itself is a great tool to incorporate the rest of the drums into simple but SICK fills.... i use my metronome to speed up over time and its much easier than most people would think. i think you guys should stop being discouraged and give it a try. it helps me to ease off of the double kick and use single pedal much more accurately. i hope to meet you some day man. i admire the way you teach and treat others.

[heffstix]

he..he.. can this guy play w/ a band tho..? and make it fit like a glove..?

[eonblueapocalypse21]

awesome, but i cheat by using double kick when doing this haha

[DrekorigV2]

Lol, when I first saw this vid I said, it looks really hard but then 2 minutes or so, I noticed its really simple =]

[jwatanabe90]

Like Mike said, it's a fairly easy and simple concept. Drummers have been using this fill for ages, Mike Portnoy is one guy that uses it a lot. It's just speeding it up that gets a little hard, especially when you're playing it as 32nd note triplets like he does a few times here. That's pretty darn fast.

[RichardCombustion]

Hey Mike, I'm glad you have HD quality now. Your awesome lessons really deserve it :) I kinda knew this stuff already, but your teaching is awesome so I watched it anyway!

Richard, Norway (your appreciated all around the world man!)

[Jonesparacristo]

niceeeeeeee

[MsRoselle05]

It's great!

[MidnightRequiem7]

I do that but with a double pedal.... you are awesome

[IraWretched]

Aw all you guys who are lost in the comments section, maybe this will help you out...Try practicing the stickings RRK and LLK, as triplets. Once you feel comfortable, it'll be crazilly easy to subdivide it. Hope that helps.

[WALNUTWP]

legend drummer

[13TeK11]

oh come on ppl it's RLRLKK that's so easy!

what he's doing is showing how far you can go with just a simple pattern!

stop saying "oh that's not intermediate" 'cause it is! it's just a matter of speed.....a lot of speed... XD

[JarNaZ]

Great video Mike!

And for all of you out there who think this is more difficult than intermediate you have really missed... The reason you feel this is very hard is because of how Mike plays the fills and how he connects them to his beats. Also, he plays at a great pace, making it seem a lot more difficult than it really is.

Thank you for the videos Mike! You've really given me some great ideas for drum fills that I can use :)

[jcmotleycruefan]

i like how you do it at first and its really fast and then im thinking now hes going to do it slow but then you say lets speed it up a bit haha

[Chelios88]

Did you just do that with a single bass pedal at the end???

I thought i was becoming pretty fast , but i think i have a long way to go now

[cvstar51]

thats ridiculous.. not intermediate.. haha

[JasonKlassenMusic]

I've been playing guitar forever. just started drums and I love it. I'm starting to understand how good this guy is and the challenge of this craft. thanx for the vid. ps if this is intermediate what does pro look like.

[zZmekmekZzDrummerzZ]

YAY! This was uploaded on my birthday. Mwahahaha. I feel so special. XD

[MarvinBrams]

I love theese lessons! Thank you Mike!

[SADCRYINGDOLFIN]

great vid very helpfull

[funkycuban28]

haha mike, dude watching these old videos, i can tell you've come a long way. congrats.

[knicknackssss]

loved this...thanks

[ThePurpleDrumStick]

how can i practise so my bass is fast enough???

my bass is not fast enough :-(

[joshebizonline]

wow be my teacher! i love ur lessons

[MarcoVinzoni]

Mister Mike Johnston you always play exercise in a very musical way and all of what you explain is usefull!! Thanks a lot for your lessons!

[LighterMan98]

What kind of heads do you have?

[MichaelMyersFan666]

wow dude that wass sickk, ill try this and see if it helps....

[thislisa]

Would it be counted like this???

1e& 2e& 3e& 4e&

RLR LBB, RLR LBB

[thislisa]

Can anyone tell me how you would count this?

[msckeeper]

So hard to get up to speed. I think I speak for everyone when I say you are an inspiration, and we all greatly appreciate your lessons. Thanks man!!

[beckelberry24]

ok, so i got down the snare -tom -floor tom-tom- kick- kick, pretty fast. but the end of this vid though...i got a lot more work cut out for me. ha

[Jonbo62]

yeah im also curious about your double kick speed? are you using a double-pedal?

[Tshiller25]

wow, yur playing is so fluid, great drumming!

[tha1shawn]

Hey Mike... Good Stuff On All Your Vid's, Thank You.

I'm A Former Drummer Getting Back Into Playing. I Just Found You And Its Helping For Sure. I've been A "Drum Tech" For Many Years, Touring And Studio. I'm New To LA Wish Me Luck... Merry Christmas Yall

[castlevaniamaniac]

How do you play the double hit on your bass drum so fast! :O

I mean I didn't notice you using double bass?

Heel-toe? Leg-ankle? HOW!?

[Pr1tz]

good pedal and technique...

[phatpeople1234]

he actually was given his foot from god

[ExEurasian]

arrrrr, ive been playin a year an still have problems with fills, im gonna have to flam my way to the top :(

[coutafhc]

damn man your a great youtube teacher

do you actually do drum classes?

[BlitzThrash]

I can't see how you don't bust into a drum solo when you're speeding up lol.

[wiiviewsjunior]

That's some tricky stuff to master and get the hang of. I want to try now :p

[Crackhead45]

nice. i actually learned.

P.S. song at the end is sick

[PrynceOrion]

Man Im still tryna get that beat down.

[cph42594]

you are a drumming god.

[Acousticduo321]

Mike is THE BEST drum teacher on the internet.if u wanna learn new fills or just improve your skills as a drummer, i deffinately recommend mike. ive been playin for 10 years and he helped me out the most out of every drum teacher ive evr seen

[GRNoam]

aaaaaand I give up.

anyone looking for a cheap drumset for sale?

[bardoxvideos]

Don't give up dude. Fight! :P

[TheBIGTLIVE]

HOW MUCH

[deatherm123]

@GRNoam oh i do :( but your offer must have been a year ago.lol

[drummerfromoly]

@GRNoam dont stop, you wont get to that next level.

[MRsounddude]

its a metal fill

[MrTotallycoolman]

wow you a good teacher. i learned

[itsliekhenry]

it's much easier than it seems

don't be intimidated guys!!!

[dremkwil]

How many days would you say it would take to get it up to speed?

[bonkersbananas2010]

Hey, thanks for the lesson on fills! Fills are something I have issues integrating into my grooves (I'm a beginner). so your lesson was very helpful. Thanks!

[real1acer]

If this is intermediate fills, what I've accomplished so far over the past 3 years of drumming are just basic baby beats.

[meowmixdancerush]

whats the normal drumbeat you play? the one you keep playing that arent the fills? and how would you suggest to change up the playing technique on a drum kit with 7 pieces. high hat, cymbal, snare, bass, two fills and [i forget the name of the low sound near the cymbal]

cause your kit has a lot more to it so you can play more intriquette beats

[Kingbraebrae]

to play it as fast as he does ur wrist muscles hav to be really loose

[shane25557]

this is awsome,subrsciribing =P

[blindevil778]

Intermediate? just be honest and give hope to the beginners xD I'm getting a little frustrated here...

[drumteacher76]

This is actually beginner. Hear me out.... go find anyone in your house that doesn't play drums and ask them to sit on your kit and play 4 hits with their hands followed by 2 hits on the kick. Wow, they've never played and yet they can do everything in this video. So the lick is beginner and the speed I do it at is advanced.

Practice will take you from beginner to advanced in time, lots of time, lol.

Keep at it "blindevel778"

Mike Johnston

MIKESLESSONS COM

[patrickburke1980]

What you're doing on the base drum petal at fast speeds is not at all beginner.

[Scnice]

hi teacher I´d learn so much with your lessons I would like one of this fine days have a lesson in live..... you are the best 4 me.

[poisonbmx21]

@blindevil778 if you cant play this then stick to beginner...

[sultani202]

Wow.. U make me seem like i don't know how to hold a pair of sticks :P

if that's intermediate.. Hahaha

[NerotheDon]

how exactly do u do like the fill in the beggining intro where it sounds like ur hitting 8 notes at a time but looks like ur only hitting 2

[95keeton]

wow your good :) great lesson too

you remind me of my old drum teacher, play summart simple and then speed it up just to show off :)

[zzman217]

he said "now we'll speed it up a little bit" then goes into some blinding fast fill. i wanted to cry.

[bindoy]

he's using only one pedal... and i think, for the fast doubles--he's not using heel-toe technique, rather the "slide"...mike's really good, a great teacher...

[gavbag1234]

Your playing heel toe on a kick at that speed and your calling this video intermediate?

Dude your good, and that's NOT intermediate.

[drumteacher76]

LOL, the fill is Very intermediate. The speed is up to you. I would never consider the final speed I played it at to be intermediate. I just find it helps if you show the students the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm trying to say "hey, this may seem a bit boring but look how cool it can become if you put in the time to practice it".

Hope that helps,

Mike Johnston

MIKESLESSONS COM

[straylife]

@drumteacher76 that's great attitude and i recommend this as a drummer - self learner. this simple patterns can also help you very much if you want to improvise some fill during playing, u must just think a little bit earlier of the fill what you want to play and choose the pattern to it and wot? that's it! you are a kick ass drummer where chicks have... yeah, that's right xD! joke

[bryanmcdonald19]

that was intermediate... playing RLRLKK at at least a moderate speed is borderline intermediate. he just played it really fast to show you how it can be used after practice.

[stephenyesavage]

its not that hard just find what works just spend some time on heel toe only you'll find it like me and now i can go rlly fast. i have only been playin for a year but i practice alot and find whats comfortable

[thegreatNEb]

damn i really wanted him to hit that little tom next to the splash...denied

i bet it was photoshopped in there, he seems to play through it when doing the fast rolls on his ftoms

[kakaris75]

i thought it was a popcorn snare.

[qbraytonbndm7]

was you using a double foot pedal

[NathanRyanAllen]

This is intermediate! wow i suck lol

[WALbariaRUS]

mike,

@3:45-3:47, @3:52-3:54, and @4:01-4:05

instead of playing this fill in 16th note triplets, you're playing it in 32nd note triplets, right?

[forgetthesinnerx]

damn dude how do you get that so fast, and what kind of drum heads do you use?

[mrdrumgod]

nice video you are well good at drumming u rock

[Inopportune]

Great stuff man, a huge help to people like me trying to take their playing to the next level.

[Tiahur76]

i wish i was cool.

[JWTownhill]

i wish i was mike

[drummerkid222]

sticks were a blur!

[paradoxenygma]

i use this fill sometimes, and then i came across your video. i do the kick with a double pedal because my right foot cant move that fast.

this is one of the hardest fills i can do really fast and clean, and was disappointed to see it labeled as only intermediate, haha.

you are a beast.

[anty123123]

he's doing heel toe when he gets fast dude no worries

[skurfja36]

This is mostly just double kick repetitiously along with a bit of variation in tom work.

[drumteacher76]

It's like that except I don't use a double pedal. I only play single. I'm terrible at double, lol.

Peace,

Mike Johnston

MIKESLESSONS COM

[pinoy6054708]

he only uses one foot dude. his left is his metronome. i use the same technique "heel-toe"

[KrackerJacker]

He's using one pedal.

[TheFlamingChips]

can some one help me if possible, my toms sound pretty rubbish tbh, i dunno, like not like toms, any tips ?

[hockeykid331]

U R BEAST

[langfoman]

its pretty odd because i am able to 1:50 but i cant seem to move any other places like... you know ....1:00 guess il just have to practise;D

[guinth84]

use either evans g2s, or aquarians.

[harpapmac]

Hi from Greece.. very good man. very good. thanks

[CutOutYourThroath]

this is not intermediate, its GOD LIKE ;D

[mustardbubble]

concept s intermediate but the temo is much more advanced

[sammanmagic]

very good

[goatsrule13]

How do I make my toms sound like that? Or is it those drumheads?

[1mind2have4now]

I love it to death, but if I had I dime for every time I've heard Mike Portnoy play this pattern........I could quit my day job.......FOR-EVER.

[maaarkoo]

actually I looked up "mike portnoy fill" and this video came up haha

[jackass612]

what kinda heads do you ise to get that kind of sound?

[BlindReaper22]

hes using aquarians

[BpPatriot]

such a simple pattern, but so awesome! Nice!

[CanadianMusicMafia]

must... leaarrnnnn :P

[CanadianMusicMafia]

JESUS HE IS GOOD!

[jmc2219]

i think the hard part (in many circumstances) is being able to switch between the straight 8th note feel to the triplet feel without messing up the tempo. to help this you should just use a mtronome counting quarter notes and then go back and forth between them.

[GuitarFreak156]

Hey Mike, How tight are the springs on your bass drum pedal? I have mine at about medium tension so i can do doubles with my feet and do easy 16th notes on double bass, should i loosen them or tighten them to make it easier for doubles?

[patman173]

i must learn this O.o

[DylanK811]

yay no double bass pedals!! i swear im startin to hate em. people use em waaaaay too much

[tripleguy031]

how do you get that heavy metal tom drumming so fast?!?!

[NiklasFreak95]

Nice drum sound !

[sabianboy14]

this is complicated. i need to learn this though

[jakevader]

"now we'll speed that up a little."

[donius22]

juicy monkey

[matrix11892]

Good video.

[johnnyBird512]

Sounds good! Beginner drummer here so that's something to work on a bit later haha

[cokecan96]

Kool show. You sound just like my drumming teacher.

[ChrsFrmn]

His technique is actually called "The Mike Technique" there you go =]

[diwataness]

as far as i could remember, Mike steps on the lower part of the foot board with the ball of his foot, creating the first note. Then, with the same part of his foot, he rapidly slides it to the upper part of the foot board which creates the second note. I saw it from one of his videos and began learning it since then :D It;s pretty easy to execute once you adjust your pedal to the right spring tension and beater angle, and you develop that muscle memory :) MJ had definitely mastered ths technique

[Rossco9992]

amazing

[Str8Faced]

at 16th note triplets it sounds cool, but once u get it down in 32nd note triplets proficiently, it's a very impressive fill. Most drummers have to use double bass to achieve that bass speed. You rock mike.

[IpodTouchBrasill]

YOUR DRUM KICK IS WAY TOO FAST XD

[Flatvia]

my favorite fill ever, so useful.

allthough I use it with double pedals in about 240 + -_-"

[SilentiumAustria]

Awesome drum sound.

[Apemano]

Guys, on this fast base drum with a single pedal, give it a go. With a few hours of practice a couple of times a week and you will see some insane speed increase. This is not something that you need 400000000 hours of practice to get well.

[bergadeer]

ya paiste!

[Ionescut123123123123]

He has great speed, and control.

[thePassi95]

awesome dude

[mrmurder1510]

he plays drums .. my god

[316Tbobble]

Thanks man.

[Bsommer100]

All of you guys arguing about Mike's foot technique, check out his video about his foot technique. He uses a slide technique, with one pedal. All he's doing with his left is keeping time with the hats.

[aaronisdank]

ah, no. unless you're blind you can definitely see his other leg's controlling the high hat. and the way he moves his right leg is definitely recognizable as a heel-toe kick.

[wordlife777e]

I agree

[EtherealRealm]

Hes using a technique he called the skip technique

[benno491]

oooo smart

[FrameSticker]

Watch the guy's video about his bass drum technique. He plays his own technique (which he named the Skip technique),

[antonfilth]

mike doesn't use heel-toe, tell em mike

[benthesexytramp]

mike doesnt use heel/toe

[DrumminMage]

thanks

[drummechanic1]

Shine Drums rule!!!

[NaandoAraujo]

Mike portnoy likes this too... hehehe

[isk84fun3]

he's not using double

[FanDecean]

gotta try this right now ...

[Superfreak937]

How the hell do you kick that fast?

[sessionproductoin14]

heel toe

[SilentPenguin51]

not heel toe

check out his bass technique vid

theres no way he could pull off 64th notes

using heel toe

unless hes an alien =o

[randomzebra123]

double bass peddle...