RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Bulls On Parade (E Standard)

3 fills to learn, played 3 times across 81 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
85 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
81
LENGTH
3:46
DIFFICULTY
57/100

Bar 53

LOOP · 85 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 53 · LANDS ON BAR 54

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 55 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 54. 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 69

LOOP · 85 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 69 · LANDS ON BAR 70

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 70. 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 81

LOOP · 85 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 81

On crash, snare and kick. 51 out of 100 -- a step up -- 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 Bulls On Parade (E Standard)?

3 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 53, 69 and 81.

What is the hardest fill in Bulls On Parade (E Standard)?

The one at bar 69, at 68 out of 100. 81 bars of 4/4 at a walking 85 BPM, 3:46 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 81 BARS ANALYSED