DAVE GROHL · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Mantra

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 233 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
125 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
233
LENGTH
7:27
DIFFICULTY
44/100

Bar 184

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 184 · LANDS ON BAR 185

On crash, snare and kick. 38 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 185. 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 231, and 1 more time

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 231-232 · LANDS ON BAR 233

On crash, snare and kick. 35 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 233. 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 Mantra?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 184 and 231-232.

What is the hardest fill in Mantra?

The one at bar 184, at 38 out of 100. 233 bars of 4/4 at 125 BPM, about 7:27 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 233 BARS ANALYSED