OASIS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Hey Now!

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 141 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
105 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
141
LENGTH
5:22
DIFFICULTY
48/100

Bar 1, and 1 more time

LOOP · 105 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 1 AND 9 · LANDS ON BAR 2

On snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 21 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 2. 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 40, and 2 more times

LOOP · 105 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 40, 71 AND 95 · LANDS ON BAR 41

On snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 21 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 41. 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 Hey Now!?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 1, 9, 40, 71 and 95.

What is the hardest fill in Hey Now!?

The one at bar 1, at 29 out of 100. 141 bars of 4/4 at a walking 105 BPM, 5:22 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 141 BARS ANALYSED