MORTUA · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in REAL INTRO 10/11/25

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 67 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
160 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
67
LENGTH
1:41
DIFFICULTY
84/100

Bar 9, and 1 more time

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 9 AND 29 · LANDS ON BAR 10

On hi-hat, snare, high 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 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 41, and 2 more times

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 41, 45 AND 62 · LANDS ON BAR 42

On crash, hi-hat, snare 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 42. 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 REAL INTRO 10/11/25?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 9, 29, 41, 45 and 62.

What is the hardest fill in REAL INTRO 10/11/25?

The one at bar 9, at 74 out of 100. 67 bars at 160 BPM -- fast, and 1:41 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 67 BARS ANALYSED