LINKIN PARK · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Burn It Down

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 102 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
110 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
102
LENGTH
3:43
DIFFICULTY
49/100

Bar 12

LOOP · 110 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 12 · LANDS ON BAR 13

On snare and kick. 21 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. 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 79, and 1 more time

LOOP · 110 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 79-80 · LANDS ON BAR 81

On hi-hat, mid tom and kick. 42 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. 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.

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 Burn It Down?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 12 and 79-80.

What is the hardest fill in Burn It Down?

The one at bar 79, at 42 out of 100. 102 bars of 4/4 at 110 BPM, about 3:43 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 102 BARS ANALYSED