ALTERNATIVE COMPETITION 2 · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Love Will Find A Way

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 75 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
180 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
75
LENGTH
1:32
DIFFICULTY
62/100

Bar 5, and 1 more time

LOOP · 180 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 5 AND 41 · LANDS ON BAR 6

On crash, snare and kick. 54 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 6. 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 81

LOOP · 180 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 81

On snare. 25 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat.

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 Love Will Find A Way?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 5, 41 and 81.

What is the hardest fill in Love Will Find A Way?

The one at bar 5, at 62 out of 100. 75 bars at 180 BPM -- fast, and 1:32 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 75 BARS ANALYSED