16 fills to learn, played 50 times across 209 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 crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 61 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 15. 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, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 27. 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, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 59 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 34. 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 ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 69 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 59. 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 hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 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 63. 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 hi-hat, snare and kick. 41 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 67. 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 hi-hat, snare and kick. 36 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 70. 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, kick and hi-hat foot. 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 150. 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 ride and kick. 20 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 156. 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. 54 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 160. 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 hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 40 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 165. 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 ride, snare and kick. 61 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 175. 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, kick and hi-hat foot. 45 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 186. 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 ride, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 77 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 200. 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, kick and hi-hat foot. 87 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 204. 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, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 94 out of 100 -- hard -- 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 50 times: bars 10-14, 16-26, 28-33, 58, 62 and 66, and 14 more places.
The one at bar 205, at 94 out of 100. 209 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 127 BPM, 5:36 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.