CONTAMINANT · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Public Execution

3 fills to learn, played 3 times across 85 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
85
LENGTH
2:16
DIFFICULTY
59/100

Bar 13

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 13 · LANDS ON BAR 14

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 14. 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 33

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 33 · LANDS ON BAR 34

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 34. 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 77

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 77 · LANDS ON BAR 78

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 78. 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 Public Execution?

3 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 13, 33 and 77.

What is the hardest fill in Public Execution?

The one at bar 13, at 75 out of 100. 85 bars of 4/4 at 150 BPM, about 2:16 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 85 BARS ANALYSED