HADES · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in A Caçadora

3 fills to learn, played 7 times across 66 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
150 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
66
LENGTH
1:46
DIFFICULTY
90/100

Bar 20, and 3 more times

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 20-23 · LANDS ON BAR 24

On crash, ride, 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 24. 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 27, and 1 more time

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 27 AND 35 · LANDS ON BAR 28

On crash, ride, snare and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 28. 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 66

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 66

On ride, snare and kick. 55 out of 100 -- a step up -- 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 A Caçadora?

3 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 20-23, 27, 35 and 66.

What is the hardest fill in A Caçadora?

The one at bar 27, at 75 out of 100. 66 bars of 4/4 at 150 BPM, about 1:46 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 66 BARS ANALYSED