ALTERNATIVE COMPETITION 7 · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Berber Girl

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 104 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
100 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
104
LENGTH
4:10
DIFFICULTY
25/100

Bar 78

LOOP · 100 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 78 · LANDS ON BAR 79

On ride, hi-hat and snare. 32 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 79. 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 103, and 1 more time

LOOP · 100 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 103-104

On crash and ride. 11 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats.

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 Berber Girl?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 78 and 103-104.

What is the hardest fill in Berber Girl?

The one at bar 78, at 32 out of 100. 104 bars of 4/4 at a walking 100 BPM, 4:10 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom and mid tom.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 104 BARS ANALYSED