BLACK FLAG · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Rise Above

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 63 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
220 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
63
LENGTH
1:07
DIFFICULTY
93/100

Bar 9

LOOP · 220 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 9 · LANDS ON BAR 10

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 82 out of 100 -- hard -- 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 63

LOOP · 220 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 63

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 87 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for.

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 Rise Above?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 9 and 63.

What is the hardest fill in Rise Above?

The one at bar 63, at 87 out of 100. 63 bars at 220 BPM -- fast, and 1:07 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 63 BARS ANALYSED