FEAR FACTORY · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Self Bias Resistor

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 242 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
188 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
242
LENGTH
5:08
DIFFICULTY
100/100

Bar 1

LOOP · 188 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 1 · LANDS ON BAR 2

On crash, 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 2. 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 4, and 1 more time

LOOP · 188 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 4-5 · LANDS ON BAR 6

On crash, snare and kick. 84 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 6. 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 Self Bias Resistor?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 1 and 4-5.

What is the hardest fill in Self Bias Resistor?

The one at bar 4, at 84 out of 100. 242 bars at 188 BPM -- fast, and 5:08 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 242 BARS ANALYSED