Page 1 - Siros Vaziri - 100 Drum Fills, Licks & Chops Transcriptions E-book

100 Drum Fills, Licks & Chops Transcriptions

Written by Siros Vaziri

Before you start learning the transcriptions in this e-book, here are a few things to note:

The words “fills”, “licks” and “chops” can sometimes have very different meanings to different
drummers. I’ve divided all the transcriptions into these three categories, and so for the sake of
transparency, below are my personal definitions of these terms. It’s all very general, of course.
Sometimes fills, licks, and chops really cross over and blend into each other, so it can be hard to define
what to call them. With that said, here are my personal reasons for why I’ve split them up the way I
have.

Fills:
These are generally played either to mark change in a groove/song, to take up space and form a musical
phrase that stands out, or to act like “checkpoints” for you and the band to know where they are in the
music. For example, they can lead you from a verse to a chorus, really stand out and become
memorable phrases, or simply leave a small footprint halfway through a groove.

Licks:
I like to think of these as embellishments to grooves. Basically, licks are patterns and phrases you can
weave into grooves without saying “get ready, here comes the next part of the song!” - they act as ways
to spice up a groove without breaking out of it, and are meant to add texture and flavor to the music.
Sometimes they’re very quick and small, and sometimes they take up a bit more space. It really depends
on the scenario they are used in, but generally this is how I like to think of them.

Chops:
This is a very loose term, but I like to define these basically as big and a bit more crazy fills that don’t
necessarily fit into a lot of musical situations. These can be phrases and patterns you’ve worked out just
for the sake of challenging yourself, or simply very long and thought-out fills that are just hard to ever
find a musical application for, but are incredibly fun to play and great tools for development. These are
also the types of phrases you can use when playing a drum solo, or when you simply want to impress
your friends.

Now, with all of that out of the way, let’s get started! Other than being split up into their respective
categories, the fills, licks and chops below are not written in any particular order. They’re a mix of quick,
easy, difficult, slow, fast, basic and crazy phrases that will hopefully inspire you in some way. Feel free to
change them and make them into your own! Don’t forget that you can also listen to the MIDI audio file
for each fill/lick/chop to hear what it’s supposed to sound like at full speed. Good luck, and have fun!