MUSE · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Showbiz

3 fills to learn, played 14 times across 148 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
114 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
148
LENGTH
5:12
DIFFICULTY
41/100

Bar 54, and 11 more times

LOOP · 114 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 54-57, 82-85 AND 94-97 · LANDS ON BAR 58

On crash, snare, floor tom and kick. 46 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 58. 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 61

LOOP · 114 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 61 · LANDS ON BAR 62

On crash, ride, snare, floor tom and kick. 51 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 62. 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 65

LOOP · 114 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 65 · LANDS ON BAR 66

On crash, ride, snare, floor tom and kick. 65 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 66. 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 Showbiz?

3 distinct fills, played 14 times: bars 54-57, 61, 65, 82-85 and 94-97.

What is the hardest fill in Showbiz?

The one at bar 65, at 65 out of 100. 148 bars of 4/4 at 114 BPM, about 5:12 of playing, on crash, ride, snare, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 148 BARS ANALYSED