THE ROLLING STONES · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Start Me Up

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 108 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
122 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
108
LENGTH
3:32
DIFFICULTY
45/100

Bar 17

LOOP · 122 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 44 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- 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 108

LOOP · 122 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 108

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 26 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Start Me Up?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 17 and 108.

What is the hardest fill in Start Me Up?

The one at bar 17, at 44 out of 100. 108 bars of 4/4 at 122 BPM, about 3:32 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 108 BARS ANALYSED