CASIOPEA · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Domino Line (Mint Jams, Live 1982)

3 fills to learn, played 16 times across 242 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
132 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
242
LENGTH
7:20
DIFFICULTY
84/100

Bar 136, and 12 more times

LOOP · 132 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 136-148 · LANDS ON BAR 149

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 149. 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 168

LOOP · 132 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 168 · LANDS ON BAR 169

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 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 169. 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 240, and 1 more time

LOOP · 132 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 240-241 · LANDS ON BAR 242

On crash and kick. 55 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 242. 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 Domino Line (Mint Jams, Live 1982)?

3 distinct fills, played 16 times: bars 136-148, 168 and 240-241.

What is the hardest fill in Domino Line (Mint Jams, Live 1982)?

The one at bar 168, at 88 out of 100. 242 bars of 4/4 at 132 BPM, about 7:20 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 242 BARS ANALYSED