THE STOKETRON · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Metalcore song

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 72 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
195 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
72
LENGTH
1:29
DIFFICULTY
73/100

Bar 7, and 1 more time

LOOP · 195 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 7-8 · LANDS ON BAR 9

On crash, snare, mid tom and kick. 60 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 9. 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 10, and 2 more times

LOOP · 195 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 10, 22 AND 62 · LANDS ON BAR 11

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 57 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 11. 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 Metalcore song?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 7-8, 10, 22 and 62.

What is the hardest fill in Metalcore song?

The one at bar 10, at 65 out of 100. 72 bars at 195 BPM -- fast, and 1:29 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 72 BARS ANALYSED