AFI · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in No Poetic Device

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 90 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
157 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
90
LENGTH
2:18
DIFFICULTY
82/100

Bar 46

LOOP · 157 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 46 · LANDS ON BAR 47

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 55 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 47. 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 90

LOOP · 157 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 90

On hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 76 out of 100 -- demanding -- 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 No Poetic Device?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 46 and 90.

What is the hardest fill in No Poetic Device?

The one at bar 90, at 76 out of 100. 90 bars at 157 BPM -- fast, and 2:18 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 90 BARS ANALYSED