DEEDS OF FLESH · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Carnivorous Ways

6 fills to learn, played 19 times across 99 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
194 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
99
LENGTH
2:28
DIFFICULTY
100/100

Bar 29, and 1 more time

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 93 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 31. 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 32, and 2 more times

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 93 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 35. 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 38, and 2 more times

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 41. 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 46, and 5 more times

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 86 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 52. 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 54, and 2 more times

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 88 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 57. 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 63, and 1 more time

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 65. 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 Carnivorous Ways?

6 distinct fills, played 19 times: bars 29-30, 32-34, 38-40, 46-51, 54-56 and 63-64.

What is the hardest fill in Carnivorous Ways?

The one at bar 38, at 100 out of 100. 99 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 194 BPM, 2:28 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 99 BARS ANALYSED