MAKE THEM SUFFER · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Doomswitch

4 fills to learn, played 5 times across 151 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
143 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
151
LENGTH
4:13
DIFFICULTY
53/100

Bar 17

LOOP · 143 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18

On crash, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 49 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 18. 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 49, and 1 more time

LOOP · 143 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 49 AND 93 · LANDS ON BAR 50

On crash, snare and kick. 60 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 50. 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 77

LOOP · 143 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 77 · LANDS ON BAR 78

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 47 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 78. 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 151

LOOP · 143 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 151

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 35 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Doomswitch?

4 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 17, 49, 77, 93 and 151.

What is the hardest fill in Doomswitch?

The one at bar 49, at 68 out of 100. 151 bars of 4/4 at 143 BPM, about 4:13 of playing, on crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 151 BARS ANALYSED