THROWN · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Backfire

5 fills to learn, played 9 times across 79 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
160 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
79
LENGTH
1:59
DIFFICULTY
48/100

Bar 27

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 27 · LANDS ON BAR 28

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 38 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 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 56, and 1 more time

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 56 AND 60 · LANDS ON BAR 57

On crash, snare and kick. 37 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 57. 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 62

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 62 · LANDS ON BAR 63

On crash, snare and kick. 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 63. 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 · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 66 · LANDS ON BAR 67

On crash, snare and kick. 41 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 67. 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 76, and 3 more times

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 76-79

On crash, snare, floor tom and kick. 37 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- 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 Backfire?

5 distinct fills, played 9 times: bars 27, 56, 60, 62, 66 and 76-79.

What is the hardest fill in Backfire?

The one at bar 56, at 44 out of 100. 79 bars at 160 BPM -- fast, and 1:59 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 79 BARS ANALYSED