CHICAGO · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Hard To Say I'm Sorry

2 fills to learn, played 4 times across 179 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
140 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
179
LENGTH
3:41
DIFFICULTY
19/100

Bar 139, and 1 more time

LOOP · 140 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 139 AND 143 · LANDS ON BAR 140

On mid tom and floor tom. 0 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 140. 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 141, and 1 more time

LOOP · 140 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 141 AND 178 · LANDS ON BAR 142

On floor tom. 0 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 142. 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 Hard To Say I'm Sorry?

2 distinct fills, played 4 times: bars 139, 141, 143 and 178.

What is the hardest fill in Hard To Say I'm Sorry?

The one at bar 139, at 0 out of 100. 179 bars of 4/4 at 140 BPM, about 3:41 of playing, on crash, ride, high tom, mid tom and floor tom.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 179 BARS ANALYSED