AUTOPILOT OFF · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Long Way To Fall

6 fills to learn, played 13 times across 64 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
95 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
64
LENGTH
2:42
DIFFICULTY
66/100

Bar 17, and 1 more time

LOOP · 95 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 17 AND 35 · LANDS ON BAR 18

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 47 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 18. 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 19, and 1 more time

LOOP · 95 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 19 AND 37 · LANDS ON BAR 20

On crash, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 47 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 20. 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 21, and 1 more time

LOOP · 95 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 21 AND 39 · LANDS ON BAR 22

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 51 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 22. 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 43, and 1 more time

LOOP · 95 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 43 AND 47 · LANDS ON BAR 44

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 58 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 44. 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 53, and 3 more times

LOOP · 95 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 53-56 · LANDS ON BAR 57

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 54 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 57. 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 63

LOOP · 95 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 63 · LANDS ON BAR 64

On crash, snare and kick. 47 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 64. 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 Long Way To Fall?

6 distinct fills, played 13 times: bars 17, 19, 21, 35, 37 and 39, and 4 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Long Way To Fall?

The one at bar 43, at 65 out of 100. 64 bars of 4/4 at a walking 95 BPM, 2:42 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 64 BARS ANALYSED