20 fills to learn, played 37 times across 141 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.
On crash, high tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 52 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 10. 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.
On crash, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 39 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 12. 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 60 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 18. 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.
On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 86 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 22. 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.
On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, 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 26. 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.
On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 30. 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.
On hi-hat, snare, high tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 61 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 38. 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 46. 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.
On ride, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 59 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 50. 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.
On ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 88 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 54. 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.
On crash, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 56 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 58. 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.
On ride, snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 84 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 74. 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.
On hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 89 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 78. 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.
On ride, hi-hat, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 114. 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.
On crash, ride, hi-hat, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 74 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 117. 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.
On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 122. 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.
On ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 50 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 126. 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.
On crash, ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 66 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 130. 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.
On crash, ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 79 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 138. 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 76 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.
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 →20 distinct fills, played 37 times: bars 9, 11, 13-17, 21, 25 and 28-29, and 21 more places.
The one at bar 77, at 89 out of 100. 141 bars of 4/4 at 113 BPM, about 4:57 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.