SATYRICON · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Dark Medieval Times

3 fills to learn, played 7 times across 122 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
165 BPM
TIME
6/4
BARS
122
LENGTH
4:47
DIFFICULTY
76/100

Bar 4

LOOP · 165 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 4 · LANDS ON BAR 5

On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 49 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 5. 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 37, and 3 more times

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor 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 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 43, and 1 more time

LOOP · 165 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 43 AND 46 · LANDS ON BAR 44

On ride, snare and kick. 85 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.

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 Dark Medieval Times?

3 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 4, 37-40, 43 and 46.

What is the hardest fill in Dark Medieval Times?

The one at bar 37, at 100 out of 100. 122 bars of 6/4 -- not four -- at 165 BPM, 4:47 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 122 BARS ANALYSED