DISLIKER · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Epstein Island

3 fills to learn, played 7 times across 105 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
137 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
105
LENGTH
3:07
DIFFICULTY
79/100

Bar 30

LOOP · 137 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 30 · LANDS ON BAR 31

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 61 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 31. 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, and 4 more times

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. 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 66

LOOP · 137 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 66 · LANDS ON BAR 67

On crash, snare, floor tom and kick. 85 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 67. 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 Epstein Island?

3 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 30, 43-47 and 66.

What is the hardest fill in Epstein Island?

The one at bar 43, at 100 out of 100. 105 bars of 4/4 at 137 BPM, about 3:07 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 105 BARS ANALYSED