BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Radioactive

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 113 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
143 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
113
LENGTH
3:10
DIFFICULTY
30/100

Bar 64, and 1 more time

LOOP · 143 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 64 AND 88 · LANDS ON BAR 65

On hi-hat and snare. 0 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 65. 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 113

LOOP · 143 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 113

On crash, snare and kick. 39 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Radioactive?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 64, 88 and 113.

What is the hardest fill in Radioactive?

The one at bar 113, at 39 out of 100. 113 bars of 4/4 at 143 BPM, about 3:10 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 113 BARS ANALYSED