WILSON PICKETT · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Land of 1000 Dances

2 fills to learn, played 7 times across 104 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
160 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
104
LENGTH
2:36
DIFFICULTY
58/100

Bar 40, and 4 more times

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 40, 92, 94, 100 AND 104 · LANDS ON BAR 41

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 50 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 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.

Bar 74, and 1 more time

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 74 AND 102 · LANDS ON BAR 75

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 47 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 75. 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 Land of 1000 Dances?

2 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 40, 74, 92, 94, 100 and 102, and 1 more place.

What is the hardest fill in Land of 1000 Dances?

The one at bar 40, at 57 out of 100. 104 bars at 160 BPM -- fast, and 2:36 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 104 BARS ANALYSED