PAUL GILBERT · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Curse Of Castle Dragon

12 fills to learn, played 25 times across 87 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
174 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
87
LENGTH
2:21
DIFFICULTY
76/100

Bar 23, and 1 more time

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 23 AND 53 · LANDS ON BAR 24

On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 57 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 24. 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 26, and 3 more times

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 26-27 AND 56-57 · LANDS ON BAR 28

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 69 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 28. 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 30

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 30 · LANDS ON BAR 31

On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- 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

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 32 · LANDS ON BAR 33

On crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 71 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 33. 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 34, and 3 more times

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 34-35 AND 65-66 · LANDS ON BAR 36

On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 36. 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 1 more time

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 38-39 · LANDS ON BAR 40

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 59 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 40. 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 42, and 1 more time

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 42-43 · LANDS ON BAR 44

On crash, ride, snare, mid tom 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 44. 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 47

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 47 · LANDS ON BAR 48

On crash, snare and kick. 65 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 48. 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 49, and 2 more times

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 49-51 · LANDS ON BAR 52

On crash, snare and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- 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 59

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 59 · LANDS ON BAR 60

On 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 60. 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

LOOP · 174 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 63 · LANDS ON BAR 64

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 98 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 64. 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, and 2 more times

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 62 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 72. 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 Curse Of Castle Dragon?

12 distinct fills, played 25 times: bars 23, 26-27, 30, 32, 34-35 and 38-39, and 9 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Curse Of Castle Dragon?

The one at bar 42, at 100 out of 100. 87 bars at 174 BPM -- fast, and 2:21 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 87 BARS ANALYSED