How To Play A Motown-Style Drum Fill!

[@zackbaburachel7197]

You are great n nice highly appreciated. Your contribution towards academic, pop,rock, funk.... Blessings.......

[@Dadedrums]

I think this is my all time fav drum fill. Love to hear to it and LOVE playing it!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Ha yeah!

[@elizabethrobinson2223]

Excellent teaching, I'm going to work on this, I love the motown feel.

[@samcohen1625]

Brilliantly explained. Always loved this classic Motown fill. Im old enough to remember the original.

[@td-12kx53]

OMG!!! I just realized in this lesson that I have been doing this wrong for more than 20 years! Wow! Wow! and WOW!!! This lesson just taught me that I have been resting on the 4 using the six stroke roll technique. This explains why it never really sounded quite right to me and this lesson teaches us why it is so important to count the note values all the way through the measure! I am stunned by this revelation!!!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Ha, cool! Resting on the 4!? Interesting 🤔

[@leonbishop5183]

Without this drum sequence there’d be no Motown sound, thanks for demonstrating ⭐️

[@raymondquinn4529]

Thanks Mike, always good to se your smiling face it helps to make my day better.

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Cheers Raymond 🙏🏻👊🏻

[@FLAMANGO12123]

Awesome!I have to learn to play Motown!

[@marcokirsch6780]

Bester Mann, danke für viele Inspirationen 🥰👍🏽

[@LucDeKesel]

Simply brilliant!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Cheers! Thanks for watching.

[@Ingridfan-wu7go]

This fill is so nice!

[@warburtonpaul]

Always a dream to play something, and 'something' is a relative word, like Benny Benjamin et al. The one with fewer hits, I've got, but the second has yet to be Bennied! I'll have to rewatch a few more times. Thanks as ever.

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Cheers Paul!

[@keithmoon3190]

This fill is so easy

[@stevepethel6843]

Beautiful drumi l playing and instructional...thank God for you giving a great drum lesson...God continued blessings on your life

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Cheers Steve, thanks for watching man 🙏🏻👊🏻

[@Mark_Williams300]

Thanks for explaining so concisely how the fill breaks down. Let's see how successfully I can translate it to my drum machine :D

[@lichtblick1968]

Best SCHOOL ever😊

[@objoyful989]

Love it. Easy, impressive, and lots of fun to play. Thank you.

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Yes, always loved this, cheers!

[@tallulah2]

Love this, and love the way you teach. Subbed!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Cheers! 🙏🏻👊🏻

[@shawnwoodley9003]

Cool fill Mike. I hear this in alot songs

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Cheers for watching Shawn!

[@gaetanomarino8937]

Bravo

[@eswarjuri]

The one song this immediately reminds me of is “Loco in Acapulco” by The Four Tops! I have always wanted to be able to play this, so thank you!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Yes! Thanks for watching, glad you dig.

[@colinreynolds9600]

I love Tamela Motown

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Great stuff!

[@Jeff034]

Brilliant

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Thanks man, love this one! Cheers for watching :)

[@doctormustard4595]

Thank you so much Mike for all your trinity rock n pop tutorials,I would be so lost without them. I got 88% distinction on grade 1 and 89 on grade 2, so a big thanks to you, I'd probably be 60% without you to be sure! Cheers!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Great stuff, well done man and thanks so much for watching, really glad the videos helped :)

[@FragginWagon76]

Sounds quite a lot like the intro fill to Love Shack by the B-52s

[@sherinelam3947]

Great stuff!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Thanks for watching Sherine 👊🏻

[@martinarmer240]

Brilliant!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Thanks Martin!

[@OogieWa]

It screams Ain't Too Proud to Beg! And it's in one I was just looking into, Just Walk Away Renee. Now, are those Benny, Uriel or Pistol?

[@mylovingjesus7872]

Can i ask, why do you put headphones?.. Is it for metronome or for ears protection?

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Ear protection as well as sometimes monitoring music/metronome

[@djsimonrossprice9400]

Mike who was the first Motown drummer who invented this.. always wanted to know. Been driving me crazy for yrs. Cheers

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Hi Simon, thanks for watching man. Not sure, certainly play a lot by Benny Benjamin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Benjamin. Cheers!

[@djsimonrossprice9400]

@@MikeBarnesDrums cheers buddy you made an old man very happy... his drumming for me made the motown sound... but never knew who he was... thanks again.... top bloke..

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

@@djsimonrossprice9400 Cheers Simon!

[@kevinturvey8213]

love your videos! have you ever noticed the lack of crash cymbals in recorded motown tracks, especially the earlier years? apparently it was due to the small size of the room in which all the musicians were recording - the cymbals were just too loud!

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Yes, good point! Microphones, and channels on the recording console, were at a premium in those days, and recordings were almost always made with the whole band in one room together. Keeping your cymbals down, or as you say not playing them at all in some cases was standard! I touch on that concept in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZ68gHyGlp55pNU Cheers Kevin!

[@1idlehoffner]

@@MikeBarnesDrums Never used ride cymbals either for the same reason

[@khunoo1694]

please make some videos about rock fill.

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

kzbin.info/aero/PLcfoni8UPb9qtPPDWOKA5csgos-JYGhAD kzbin.info/aero/PLcfoni8UPb9q21HMRB9fqGUhffLOZG-pc

[@rukaarkesh]

wonderful.... one question... How do you keep track of bars to complete a phrase? Example, I hear two snares per bar but I am not sure if that is bad practice as sometimes I lose count.

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

I count 1,2,3,4! Nothing sophisticated :) it's the repetition that turns it to muscle memory so you can just "feel it" in the end. Cheers for watching man!

[@peteskyrunner4845]

I just watched your video where you explained the definitions of up beat, down beat, back beat etc. And you said the snare (or other note) on the off beat is a back beat. I always though the main beat you're playing here (the beat, not the fill) was a back beat, where the snare is on 1,2,3,4. Can you tell me what this beat is called, thanks.

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Yeah a backbeat is an emphasised off beat, most commonly “2” and “4” on the snare of course. This beat I’d just describe as “The Motown Beat” or just “Four snares to the bar”. I’ve also heard it refers to as “The Stax Beat”. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZzFl6WpiraNqtE

[@peteskyrunner4845]

@@MikeBarnesDrums Cool, thanks.

[@ClumpyWoods]

Can you do some stuff on rock/metal fills? I’m a rock fan and I can’t work out the crazy tom fills they all do... Also can you do a note for note drum cover of something by Area 11? (One I’d recommend is Tokyo House Party off their first album All The Lights In The Sky)

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

Sure man, quite a bit on this channel already! But more rock fills etc to come for sure! Cheers :)

[@ClumpyWoods]

Mike Barnes Drums Also thanks for your videos, you helped me pass my Grade 3 Rockschool 82/100 (so Merit), skipping to Grade 5 (but still learning Grade 4, I’m learning Let’s Dance, In My Place, and The Nod)

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

@@ClumpyWoods Great stuff man, brilliant to hear!

[@youtuber_boi7672]

One question - after the crash, what do you play?

[@MikeBarnesDrums]

I play a Motown-style drum beat! - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZzFl6WpiraNqtE