MISFITS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Great Balls Of Fire

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 74 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
166 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
74
LENGTH
1:47
DIFFICULTY
56/100

Bar 45

LOOP · 166 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 45 · LANDS ON BAR 46

On ride, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 49 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 46. 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 53

LOOP · 166 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 53 · LANDS ON BAR 54

On ride, snare and kick. 45 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 54. 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 Great Balls Of Fire?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 45 and 53.

What is the hardest fill in Great Balls Of Fire?

The one at bar 45, at 49 out of 100. 74 bars at 166 BPM -- fast, and 1:47 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 74 BARS ANALYSED