UNLUCKY MORPHEUS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Dead Leaves Rising

12 fills to learn, played 19 times across 110 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
110
LENGTH
3:40
DIFFICULTY
90/100

Bar 1, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 1-2 · LANDS ON BAR 3

On crash, snare, mid tom and kick. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 3. 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

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27

On crash, snare and kick. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 27. 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

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 34 · LANDS ON BAR 35

On crash, snare and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 35. 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 40

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 40 · LANDS ON BAR 41

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 93 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 42

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 42 · LANDS ON BAR 43

On crash, snare, mid tom and kick. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 43. 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 58

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 58 · LANDS ON BAR 59

On crash, snare, mid tom and kick. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 59. 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 66, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 66-67 · LANDS ON BAR 68

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 69 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 68. 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 75

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 75 · LANDS ON BAR 76

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 80 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 76. 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 83, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 83-84 · LANDS ON BAR 85

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 85. 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 92

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 92 · LANDS ON BAR 93

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 78 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 93. 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 100

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 100 · LANDS ON BAR 101

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 101. 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, and 4 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 106-110

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- 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 Dead Leaves Rising?

12 distinct fills, played 19 times: bars 1-2, 26, 34, 40, 42 and 58, and 6 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Dead Leaves Rising?

The one at bar 40, at 93 out of 100. 110 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 3:40 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 110 BARS ANALYSED