ALL SHALL PERISH · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Prisoner Of War

2 fills to learn, played 6 times across 132 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
132
LENGTH
4:24
DIFFICULTY
68/100

Bar 42

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 42 · LANDS ON BAR 43

On snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 65 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 43. 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 49, and 4 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 49-53 · LANDS ON BAR 54

On crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 54. 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 Prisoner Of War?

2 distinct fills, played 6 times: bars 42 and 49-53.

What is the hardest fill in Prisoner Of War?

The one at bar 49, at 73 out of 100. 132 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 4:24 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 132 BARS ANALYSED