SCANDAL · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Goodbye To You

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 147 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
147
LENGTH
3:41
DIFFICULTY
54/100

Bar 93

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 93 · LANDS ON BAR 94

On crash and kick. 9 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 94. 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 147

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 147

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 28 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Goodbye To You?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 93 and 147.

What is the hardest fill in Goodbye To You?

The one at bar 147, at 28 out of 100. 147 bars at 160 BPM -- fast, and 3:41 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 147 BARS ANALYSED