BLINK-182 · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Easy Target

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 77 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
160 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
77
LENGTH
1:56
DIFFICULTY
85/100

Bar 28, and 1 more time

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 28 AND 60 · LANDS ON BAR 29

On snare. 21 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 29. 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 44

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 44 · LANDS ON BAR 45

On high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 56 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 45. 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 Easy Target?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 28, 44 and 60.

What is the hardest fill in Easy Target?

The one at bar 44, at 56 out of 100. 77 bars at 160 BPM -- fast, and 1:56 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 77 BARS ANALYSED