BROU · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in On The Way To Disaster

2 fills to learn, played 7 times across 155 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
150 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
155
LENGTH
4:08
DIFFICULTY
81/100

Bar 9, and 2 more times

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 9, 50 AND 136 · LANDS ON BAR 10

On ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 94 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 10. 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 70, and 3 more times

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 70, 74, 92 AND 104 · LANDS ON BAR 71

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 66 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 71. 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 On The Way To Disaster?

2 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 9, 50, 70, 74, 92 and 104, and 1 more place.

What is the hardest fill in On The Way To Disaster?

The one at bar 9, at 100 out of 100. 155 bars of 4/4 at 150 BPM, about 4:08 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 155 BARS ANALYSED