NIRVANA · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Blew (Live at the paramount)

2 fills to learn, played 14 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
132 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
93
LENGTH
2:49
DIFFICULTY
66/100

Bar 30, and 8 more times

LOOP · 132 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 30-32, 54-56 AND 78-80 · LANDS ON BAR 33

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 49 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 33. 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 89, and 4 more times

LOOP · 132 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 89-93

On snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 55 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 Blew (Live at the paramount)?

2 distinct fills, played 14 times: bars 30-32, 54-56, 78-80 and 89-93.

What is the hardest fill in Blew (Live at the paramount)?

The one at bar 30, at 57 out of 100. 93 bars of 4/4 at 132 BPM, about 2:49 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 93 BARS ANALYSED