FEASTT · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Nina

5 fills to learn, played 15 times across 91 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
91
LENGTH
4:01
DIFFICULTY
47/100

Bar 58

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 58 · LANDS ON BAR 59

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 47 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 59. 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 68, and 7 more times

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 58 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 76. 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 79, and 1 more time

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 79 AND 83 · LANDS ON BAR 80

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 38 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 80. 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 85

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 85 · LANDS ON BAR 86

On crash, ride, snare, mid tom and kick. 48 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 86. 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 89, and 2 more times

LOOP · 90 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 89-91

On crash, snare and kick. 42 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- 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 Nina?

5 distinct fills, played 15 times: bars 58, 68-75, 79, 83, 85 and 89-91.

What is the hardest fill in Nina?

The one at bar 68, at 58 out of 100. 91 bars of 4/4 at a walking 90 BPM, 4:01 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 91 BARS ANALYSED