NUMBER GIRL · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Omoide in my Head

2 fills to learn, played 47 times across 269 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
269
LENGTH
6:51
DIFFICULTY
86/100

Bar 1, and 17 more times

LOOP · 157 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 1-18 · LANDS ON BAR 19

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 40 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 19. 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 241, and 28 more times

LOOP · 157 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 241-269

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 49 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat.

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 Omoide in my Head?

2 distinct fills, played 47 times: bars 1-18 and 241-269.

What is the hardest fill in Omoide in my Head?

The one at bar 241, at 49 out of 100. 269 bars at 157 BPM -- fast, and 6:51 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 · 269 BARS ANALYSED