WEEZER · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Buddy Holly

2 fills to learn, played 7 times across 80 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
121 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
80
LENGTH
2:39
DIFFICULTY
50/100

Bar 13, and 5 more times

LOOP · 121 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 13-14, 39-40 AND 63-64 · LANDS ON BAR 15

On crash, ride, snare and kick. 22 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 15. 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 80

LOOP · 121 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 80

On snare and kick. 29 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat.

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 Buddy Holly?

2 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 13-14, 39-40, 63-64 and 80.

What is the hardest fill in Buddy Holly?

The one at bar 13, at 29 out of 100. 80 bars of 4/4 at 121 BPM, about 2:39 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 80 BARS ANALYSED