ANCIENT NORTH · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Deicide Warriors Ov The Abyss

2 fills to learn, played 9 times across 448 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
190 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
448
LENGTH
7:04
DIFFICULTY
91/100

Bar 80, and 4 more times

LOOP · 190 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 80, 96, 120, 304 AND 320 · LANDS ON BAR 81

On ride, snare 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 81. 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 144, and 3 more times

LOOP · 190 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 144, 160, 368 AND 416 · LANDS ON BAR 145

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 76 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 145. 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 Deicide Warriors Ov The Abyss?

2 distinct fills, played 9 times: bars 80, 96, 120, 144, 160 and 304, and 3 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Deicide Warriors Ov The Abyss?

The one at bar 144, at 84 out of 100. 448 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 190 BPM, 7:04 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 448 BARS ANALYSED