GUTALAX · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Diarrhero

4 fills to learn, played 9 times across 61 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
205 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
61
LENGTH
1:11
DIFFICULTY
83/100

Bar 38, and 1 more time

LOOP · 205 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 38 AND 42 · LANDS ON BAR 39

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 39. 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 46

LOOP · 205 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 46 · LANDS ON BAR 47

On crash, 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 47. 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 51, and 1 more time

LOOP · 205 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 51-52 · LANDS ON BAR 53

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 87 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 53. 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 57, and 3 more times

LOOP · 205 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 57-60 · LANDS ON BAR 61

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom 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 61. 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 Diarrhero?

4 distinct fills, played 9 times: bars 38, 42, 46, 51-52 and 57-60.

What is the hardest fill in Diarrhero?

The one at bar 57, at 88 out of 100. 61 bars at 205 BPM -- fast, and 1:11 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 61 BARS ANALYSED