BLANKASS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Pas Des Chiens

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 115 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
93 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
115
LENGTH
4:55
DIFFICULTY
31/100

Bar 73, and 1 more time

LOOP · 93 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 73 AND 77 · LANDS ON BAR 74

On snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 18 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 74. 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 87

LOOP · 93 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 87 · LANDS ON BAR 88

On crash, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 44 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 88. 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 Pas Des Chiens?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 73, 77 and 87.

What is the hardest fill in Pas Des Chiens?

The one at bar 87, at 44 out of 100. 115 bars of 4/4 at a walking 93 BPM, 4:55 of playing, on crash, snare, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 115 BARS ANALYSED