RADIOHEAD · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in 2 + 2 = 5

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 98 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
149 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
98
LENGTH
3:06
DIFFICULTY
56/100

Bar 66

LOOP · 149 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 66 · LANDS ON BAR 67

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 55 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 67. 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 76, and 1 more time

LOOP · 149 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 76 AND 80 · LANDS ON BAR 77

On snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 48 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 77. 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.

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 2 + 2 = 5?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 66, 76 and 80.

What is the hardest fill in 2 + 2 = 5?

The one at bar 66, at 55 out of 100. 98 bars of 4/4 at 149 BPM, about 3:06 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 98 BARS ANALYSED