NECROPHAGIST · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Advanced Corpse Tumor

6 fills to learn, played 25 times across 250 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
240 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
250
LENGTH
4:05
DIFFICULTY
88/100

Bar 5, and 3 more times

On crash, snare, high tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 85 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 9. 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 38, and 3 more times

On crash, ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 42. 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 43, and 3 more times

On crash, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 47. 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 71, and 3 more times

LOOP · 240 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 71, 75, 226 AND 230 · LANDS ON BAR 72

On crash, ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 71 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 72. 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 198, and 7 more times

On crash, ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 206. 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 250

LOOP · 240 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 250

On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 92 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for.

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 Advanced Corpse Tumor?

6 distinct fills, played 25 times: bars 5-8, 38-41, 43-46, 71, 75 and 198-205, and 3 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Advanced Corpse Tumor?

The one at bar 250, at 92 out of 100. 250 bars at 240 BPM -- fast, and 4:05 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 250 BARS ANALYSED