WEEZER · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Devotion

7 fills to learn, played 11 times across 66 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
250 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
66
LENGTH
0:48
DIFFICULTY
67/100

Bar 5, and 1 more time

LOOP · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 5 AND 54 · LANDS ON BAR 6

On ride, snare and kick. 48 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 6. 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 13, and 2 more times

LOOP · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 13, 18 AND 37 · LANDS ON BAR 14

On ride, snare and kick. 61 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 14. 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 · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 42-43 · LANDS ON BAR 44

On crash, ride, hi-hat, 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 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 50

LOOP · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 50 · LANDS ON BAR 51

On crash, snare and kick. 53 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 51. 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 · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 58 · LANDS ON BAR 59

On crash, snare and kick. 48 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 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 62

LOOP · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 62 · LANDS ON BAR 63

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 88 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 63. 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 64

LOOP · 250 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 64 · LANDS ON BAR 65

On crash, hi-hat, snare, 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 65. 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 Devotion?

7 distinct fills, played 11 times: bars 5, 13, 18, 37, 42-43 and 50, and 4 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Devotion?

The one at bar 62, at 88 out of 100. 66 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 250 BPM, 0:48 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 66 BARS ANALYSED