16 fills to learn, played 49 times across 268 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.
On mid tom, floor tom and kick. 20 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 17. 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.
On crash, snare and kick. 43 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 71. 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.
On crash, snare and kick. 40 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 75. 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.
On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 46 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 79. 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.
On crash, snare and kick. 42 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 83. 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.
On crash, snare and kick. 34 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 95. 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.
On crash, snare and kick. 30 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 111. 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 53 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 119. 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.
On crash, ride, snare and kick. 33 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 123. 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.
On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 39 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 161. 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.
On crash and snare. 10 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 197. 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 34 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 226. 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.
On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 38 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 230. 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 39 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 234. 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.
On crash, snare and kick. 4 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 238. 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.
On snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 35 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.
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 →16 distinct fills, played 49 times: bars 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 and 69-70, and 17 more places.
The one at bar 112, at 53 out of 100. 268 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 8:30 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.