SOFT PLAY · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Sockets (adjusted)

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 156 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
156
LENGTH
5:11
DIFFICULTY
40/100

Bar 16, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 16-17 · LANDS ON BAR 18

On snare and kick. 13 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 18. 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 129

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 129 · LANDS ON BAR 130

On snare. 0 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 130. 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 Sockets (adjusted)?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 16-17 and 129.

What is the hardest fill in Sockets (adjusted)?

The one at bar 16, at 13 out of 100. 156 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 5:11 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 156 BARS ANALYSED