AVENGED SEVENFOLD · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Danger Line

6 fills to learn, played 30 times across 196 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
182 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
196
LENGTH
4:18
DIFFICULTY
72/100

Bar 68, and 1 more time

LOOP · 182 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 68 AND 116 · LANDS ON BAR 69

On ride, snare 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 69. 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 104

LOOP · 182 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 104 · LANDS ON BAR 105

On ride, snare 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 105. 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 132

LOOP · 182 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 132 · LANDS ON BAR 133

On snare 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 133. 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 157, and 7 more times

LOOP · 182 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 157-164 · LANDS ON BAR 165

On snare. 34 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 165. 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 172

LOOP · 182 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 172 · LANDS ON BAR 173

On ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom 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 173. 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 180, and 16 more times

LOOP · 182 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 180-196

On crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 44 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for.

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 Danger Line?

6 distinct fills, played 30 times: bars 68, 104, 116, 132, 157-164 and 172, and 1 more place.

What is the hardest fill in Danger Line?

The one at bar 172, at 72 out of 100. 196 bars at 182 BPM -- fast, and 4:18 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 196 BARS ANALYSED