SILVERSUN PICKUPS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Lazy Eye

4 fills to learn, played 7 times across 185 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
130 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
185
LENGTH
5:42
DIFFICULTY
63/100

Bar 88

LOOP · 130 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 88 · LANDS ON BAR 89

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 89. 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 128, and 2 more times

LOOP · 130 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 128, 138 AND 148 · LANDS ON BAR 129

On ride, snare and kick. 41 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 129. 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 152

LOOP · 130 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 152 · LANDS ON BAR 153

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 52 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 153. 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 184, and 1 more time

LOOP · 130 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 184-185

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 39 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Lazy Eye?

4 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 88, 128, 138, 148, 152 and 184-185.

What is the hardest fill in Lazy Eye?

The one at bar 152, at 52 out of 100. 185 bars of 4/4 at 130 BPM, about 5:42 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 185 BARS ANALYSED