AFI · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Midnight Sun (Black Sails In The Sunset Secret Song)

6 fills to learn, played 7 times across 67 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
90 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
67
LENGTH
2:56
DIFFICULTY
73/100

Bar 17, and 1 more time

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 17 AND 29 · LANDS ON BAR 18

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 62 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 21

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 21 · LANDS ON BAR 22

On crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 62 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 37

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 37 · LANDS ON BAR 38

On crash, snare and kick. 61 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 38. 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 45

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 45 · LANDS ON BAR 46

On ride, snare and kick. 74 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 46. 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 59

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 59 · LANDS ON BAR 60

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 60. 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 67

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 67

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 55 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Midnight Sun (Black Sails In The Sunset Secret Song)?

6 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 17, 21, 29, 37, 45 and 59, and 1 more place.

What is the hardest fill in Midnight Sun (Black Sails In The Sunset Secret Song)?

The one at bar 45, at 74 out of 100. 67 bars of 4/4 at a walking 90 BPM, 2:56 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 67 BARS ANALYSED