OPETH · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Heart in Hand

16 fills to learn, played 31 times across 245 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
245
LENGTH
8:13
DIFFICULTY
71/100

Bar 10

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 10 · LANDS ON BAR 11

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 11. 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 12

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 12 · LANDS ON BAR 13

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 13. 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 28

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 28 · LANDS ON BAR 29

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 77 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 29. 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 45, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 45-46 · LANDS ON BAR 47

On hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 47. 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 72, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 72-73 · LANDS ON BAR 74

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- 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.

Bar 81, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 81 AND 126 · LANDS ON BAR 82

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 82. 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 85, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 85 AND 130 · LANDS ON BAR 86

On hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 86. 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 89

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 89 · LANDS ON BAR 90

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 60 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 90. 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 96, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 96 AND 99 · LANDS ON BAR 97

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 62 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 97. 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 118

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 118 · LANDS ON BAR 119

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 79 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 119. 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 134, and 6 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 134-140 · LANDS ON BAR 141

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 141. 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 142, and 3 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 142-145 · LANDS ON BAR 146

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 146. 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 153

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 153 · LANDS ON BAR 154

On snare, mid tom and kick. 47 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 154. 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 163, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 163-164 · LANDS ON BAR 165

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 69 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 165. 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 220

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 220 · LANDS ON BAR 221

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 52 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 221. 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 236

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 236 · LANDS ON BAR 237

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 66 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 237. 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 Heart in Hand?

16 distinct fills, played 31 times: bars 10, 12, 28, 45-46, 72-73 and 81, and 13 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Heart in Hand?

The one at bar 72, at 81 out of 100. 245 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 8:13 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 245 BARS ANALYSED