BELPHEGOR · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Baphomet

5 fills to learn, played 10 times across 93 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
119 BPM
TIME
6/4
BARS
93
LENGTH
4:37
DIFFICULTY
76/100

Bar 8, and 2 more times

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 11. 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 30, and 1 more time

LOOP · 119 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 30 AND 32 · LANDS ON BAR 31

On crash, ride, snare, mid tom and kick. 79 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 31. 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 40

LOOP · 119 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 40 · LANDS ON BAR 41

On crash, ride, snare, high tom and kick. 77 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 41. 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 42, and 1 more time

LOOP · 119 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 42 AND 52 · LANDS ON BAR 43

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 43. 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 48, and 1 more time

LOOP · 119 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 48 AND 58 · LANDS ON BAR 49

On snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 61 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 49. 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 Baphomet?

5 distinct fills, played 10 times: bars 8-10, 30, 32, 40, 42 and 48, and 2 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Baphomet?

The one at bar 30, at 87 out of 100. 93 bars of 6/4 -- not four -- at 119 BPM, 4:37 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 93 BARS ANALYSED