FU MANCHU · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Eatin' Dust

11 fills to learn, played 16 times across 71 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
92 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
71
LENGTH
3:05
DIFFICULTY
69/100

Bar 11, and 1 more time

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 11 AND 71 · LANDS ON BAR 12

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 60 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 12. 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 19

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 19 · LANDS ON BAR 20

On hi-hat, snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 20. 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 39

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 39 · LANDS ON BAR 40

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 40. 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 43

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 43 · LANDS ON BAR 44

On crash, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 64 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 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 47

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 47 · LANDS ON BAR 48

On crash, snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 69 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 48. 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 · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 51 AND 53 · LANDS ON BAR 52

On crash, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 64 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 52. 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 55

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 55 · LANDS ON BAR 56

On crash, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 71 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 56. 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 · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 58 · LANDS ON BAR 59

On crash, hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 63 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 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 60

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 60 · LANDS ON BAR 61

On crash, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 53 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 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.

Bar 62, and 1 more time

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 62-63 · LANDS ON BAR 64

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 64. 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 65, and 2 more times

LOOP · 92 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 65-67 · LANDS ON BAR 68

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 68. 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 Eatin' Dust?

11 distinct fills, played 16 times: bars 11, 19, 39, 43, 47 and 51, and 7 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Eatin' Dust?

The one at bar 65, at 75 out of 100. 71 bars of 4/4 at a walking 92 BPM, 3:05 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 71 BARS ANALYSED