9 fills to learn, played 11 times across 341 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 hi-hat, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 25 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how often it moves around the kit. In the song it lands on bar 33. 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, mid tom and kick. 8 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 109. 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 and floor tom. 0 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 157. 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 snare, mid tom and floor tom. 1 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 257. 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, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 33 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 265. 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, mid tom and kick. 35 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 289. 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 snare and kick. 3 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how little of it repeats. In the song it lands on bar 305. 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 snare and kick. 32 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 321. 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 snare and kick. 18 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 337. 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.
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 →9 distinct fills, played 11 times: bars 32, 107-108, 156, 256, 263-264 and 288, and 3 more places.
The one at bar 288, at 35 out of 100. 341 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 11:22 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.