BLACK BOMB A · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Born To Die

2 fills to learn, played 9 times across 133 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
200 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
133
LENGTH
2:40
DIFFICULTY
55/100

Bar 12, and 5 more times

LOOP · 200 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 12, 20, 36, 88 AND 96, AND 1 MORE PLACE · LANDS ON BAR 13

On crash, snare and kick. 37 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 13. 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 44, and 2 more times

LOOP · 200 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 44, 84 AND 120 · LANDS ON BAR 45

On snare. 26 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 45. 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 Born To Die?

2 distinct fills, played 9 times: bars 12, 20, 36, 44, 84 and 88, and 3 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Born To Die?

The one at bar 12, at 44 out of 100. 133 bars at 200 BPM -- fast, and 2:40 of it without a break -- on crash, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 133 BARS ANALYSED