BO BURNHAM · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in 1985

2 fills to learn, played 4 times across 86 bars. Two fills that share a rhythm and differ only in how they are spread round the toms are one fill here, learned once and orchestrated twice.

TEMPO
156 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
86
LENGTH
2:12
DIFFICULTY
50/100

Bar 26

LOOP · 156 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 56 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 27. The exercise loops the figure on its own first, and the one after it puts it back: one bar of rest to count yourself in, the figure, then the landing with the time still running. Getting out of a fill is the half most people never practise.

Bar 84, and 2 more times

LOOP · 156 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 84-86

On snare, mid tom and kick. 24 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

How a fill is practised

A fill is rhythm before it is orchestration. The room plays the whole figure on the snare first, puts the feet under it second, and moves it round the toms last -- looped on its own, round and round, until the hands know it. Then it puts the fill back where it lives: a bar of rest to count in, the figure, and the downbeat it lands on, because landing square is the other half of the job.

PRACTISE THESE FILLS →

Questions

How many drum fills are in 1985?

2 distinct fills, played 4 times: bars 26 and 84-86.

What is the hardest fill in 1985?

The one at bar 26, at 56 out of 100. 86 bars at 156 BPM -- fast, and 2:12 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 86 BARS ANALYSED