BOY HITS CAR · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in I'm A Cloud

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 171 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
180 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
171
LENGTH
3:48
DIFFICULTY
56/100

Bar 84

LOOP · 180 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 84 · LANDS ON BAR 85

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 53 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 85. 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 136

LOOP · 180 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 136 · LANDS ON BAR 137

On hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 62 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 137. 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 I'm A Cloud?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 84 and 136.

What is the hardest fill in I'm A Cloud?

The one at bar 136, at 62 out of 100. 171 bars at 180 BPM -- fast, and 3:48 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 171 BARS ANALYSED