2 fills to learn, played 12 times across 89 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.
On hi-hat, snare and floor tom. 16 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. 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.
On hi-hat, mid tom and floor tom. 39 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 74. 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.
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 →2 distinct fills, played 12 times: bars 17, 25, 33, 57, 61 and 65, and 6 more places.
The one at bar 73, at 39 out of 100. 89 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 170 BPM, 1:34 of playing on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.