RAIMUNDOS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in I Saw You Saying

2 fills to learn, played 6 times across 95 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
95
LENGTH
3:10
DIFFICULTY
16/100

Bar 12, and 3 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 12, 46, 75 AND 94 · LANDS ON BAR 13

On snare. 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 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, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 28 AND 54 · LANDS ON BAR 29

On snare and mid 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 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.

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 Saw You Saying?

2 distinct fills, played 6 times: bars 12, 28, 46, 54, 75 and 94.

What is the hardest fill in I Saw You Saying?

The one at bar 28, at 4 out of 100. 95 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 3:10 of playing, on crash, ride, snare, high tom and mid tom.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 95 BARS ANALYSED