BAD OMENS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 150 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
190 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
150
LENGTH
3:09
DIFFICULTY
52/100

Bar 110

LOOP · 190 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 110 · LANDS ON BAR 111

On hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 53 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 111. 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 118

LOOP · 190 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 118 · LANDS ON BAR 119

On hi-hat, floor tom and kick. 31 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 119. 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 ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 110 and 118.

What is the hardest fill in ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE?

The one at bar 110, at 53 out of 100. 150 bars at 190 BPM -- fast, and 3:09 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 150 BARS ANALYSED