ROBERTO CARLOS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Lady Laura

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 164 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
135 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
164
LENGTH
4:52
DIFFICULTY
51/100

Bar 62

LOOP · 135 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 62 · LANDS ON BAR 63

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 51 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 63. 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 110

LOOP · 135 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 110 · LANDS ON BAR 111

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 36 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 111. 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 Lady Laura?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 62 and 110.

What is the hardest fill in Lady Laura?

The one at bar 62, at 51 out of 100. 164 bars of 4/4 at 135 BPM, about 4:52 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 164 BARS ANALYSED