LOS LOBOS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in La Bamba

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 129 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
152 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
129
LENGTH
2:51
DIFFICULTY
45/100

Bar 41

LOOP · 152 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 41 · LANDS ON BAR 42

On ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 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 42. 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 65

LOOP · 152 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 65 · LANDS ON BAR 66

On snare. 10 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 66. 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 La Bamba?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 41 and 65.

What is the hardest fill in La Bamba?

The one at bar 41, at 62 out of 100. 129 bars of 4/4 at 152 BPM, about 2:51 of playing, on crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 129 BARS ANALYSED