AIRBOURNE · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Blonde, Bad And Beautiful

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 119 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
128 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
119
LENGTH
3:43
DIFFICULTY
49/100

Bar 80

LOOP · 128 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 80 · LANDS ON BAR 81

On hi-hat and snare. 48 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 81. 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 119

LOOP · 128 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 119

On snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 30 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 Blonde, Bad And Beautiful?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 80 and 119.

What is the hardest fill in Blonde, Bad And Beautiful?

The one at bar 80, at 48 out of 100. 119 bars of 4/4 at 128 BPM, about 3:43 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 119 BARS ANALYSED