BOB DYLAN · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in My Back Pages

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 164 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
164
LENGTH
5:28
DIFFICULTY
40/100

Bar 77

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 77 · LANDS ON BAR 78

On crash, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 28 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 78. 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 163

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 163 · LANDS ON BAR 164

On ride, snare and hi-hat foot. 42 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 164. 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 My Back Pages?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 77 and 163.

What is the hardest fill in My Back Pages?

The one at bar 163, at 42 out of 100. 164 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 5:28 of playing, on crash, ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 164 BARS ANALYSED