CONTAMINANT · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Engineered Atrophy

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 122 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
195 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
122
LENGTH
2:30
DIFFICULTY
68/100

Bar 19

LOOP · 195 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 19 · LANDS ON BAR 20

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 64 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 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 27

LOOP · 195 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 27 · LANDS ON BAR 28

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 78 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 28. 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 Engineered Atrophy?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 19 and 27.

What is the hardest fill in Engineered Atrophy?

The one at bar 27, at 78 out of 100. 122 bars at 195 BPM -- fast, and 2:30 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 122 BARS ANALYSED