MASSIVE ATTACK · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Risingson

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 193 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
164 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
193
LENGTH
4:42
DIFFICULTY
38/100

Bar 153

LOOP · 164 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 153 · LANDS ON BAR 154

On snare. 0 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 154. 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 193

LOOP · 164 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 193

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 51 out of 100 -- a step up -- 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 Risingson?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 153 and 193.

What is the hardest fill in Risingson?

The one at bar 193, at 51 out of 100. 193 bars at 164 BPM -- fast, and 4:42 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 193 BARS ANALYSED