JAY MACKINTOSH · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in All Of The Courier Service Has Gone On Strike But I Just Want My Damn Package

4 fills to learn, played 6 times across 135 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
181 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
135
LENGTH
2:59
DIFFICULTY
77/100

Bar 82, and 1 more time

LOOP · 181 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 82 AND 90 · LANDS ON BAR 83

On crash, snare, mid tom and kick. 58 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 83. 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 86, and 1 more time

LOOP · 181 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 86 AND 94 · LANDS ON BAR 87

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 66 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 87. 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 128

LOOP · 181 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 128 · LANDS ON BAR 129

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 80 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 129. 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 134

LOOP · 181 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 134 · LANDS ON BAR 135

On crash. 46 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 135. 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 All Of The Courier Service Has Gone On Strike But I Just Want My Damn Package?

4 distinct fills, played 6 times: bars 82, 86, 90, 94, 128 and 134.

What is the hardest fill in All Of The Courier Service Has Gone On Strike But I Just Want My Damn Package?

The one at bar 128, at 80 out of 100. 135 bars at 181 BPM -- fast, and 2:59 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 135 BARS ANALYSED