MICHAEL JACKSON · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Billie Jean (Acoustic)

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 152 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
152
LENGTH
5:04
DIFFICULTY
65/100

Bar 41, and 3 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 41-42 AND 81-82 · LANDS ON BAR 43

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom and kick. 54 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 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 152

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 152

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 63 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for.

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 Billie Jean (Acoustic)?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 41-42, 81-82 and 152.

What is the hardest fill in Billie Jean (Acoustic)?

The one at bar 152, at 63 out of 100. 152 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 5:04 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 152 BARS ANALYSED