STATUS QUO · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Caroline

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 171 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
150 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
171
LENGTH
4:34
DIFFICULTY
51/100

Bar 138, and 1 more time

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 138 AND 159 · LANDS ON BAR 139

On snare, high tom and floor tom. 19 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 139. 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 171

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 171

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 37 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- 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 Caroline?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 138, 159 and 171.

What is the hardest fill in Caroline?

The one at bar 171, at 37 out of 100. 171 bars of 4/4 at 150 BPM, about 4:34 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 171 BARS ANALYSED