SAVE FERRIS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Come On Eileen

3 fills to learn, played 8 times across 113 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
125 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
113
LENGTH
3:38
DIFFICULTY
65/100

Bar 101, and 2 more times

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 101-103 · LANDS ON BAR 104

On crash. 24 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 104. 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 106

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 106 · LANDS ON BAR 107

On crash. 26 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 107. 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 109, and 3 more times

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 109-112 · LANDS ON BAR 113

On crash. 21 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 113. 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 Come On Eileen?

3 distinct fills, played 8 times: bars 101-103, 106 and 109-112.

What is the hardest fill in Come On Eileen?

The one at bar 106, at 26 out of 100. 113 bars of 4/4 at 125 BPM, about 3:38 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 113 BARS ANALYSED