RALEIGH · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in metal thing

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 82 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
82
LENGTH
2:44
DIFFICULTY
63/100

Bar 20, and 2 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 20, 52 AND 60 · LANDS ON BAR 21

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 52 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 21. 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, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 81-82

On snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 35 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is.

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 metal thing?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 20, 52, 60 and 81-82.

What is the hardest fill in metal thing?

The one at bar 20, at 59 out of 100. 82 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 2:44 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 82 BARS ANALYSED