AVE MUJICA · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Symbol I:△

21 fills to learn, played 69 times across 153 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
118 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
153
LENGTH
5:08
DIFFICULTY
81/100

Bar 1, and 4 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 1-5 · LANDS ON BAR 6

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 64 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 6. 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 7, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 7-8 · LANDS ON BAR 9

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 64 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 9. 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 11, and 4 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 11, 39, 43, 81 AND 85 · LANDS ON BAR 12

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 79 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 12. 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 13, and 3 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 13, 45, 87 AND 129 · LANDS ON BAR 14

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 60 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 14. 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 15, and 2 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 15-17 · LANDS ON BAR 18

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. 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 21, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 21 AND 66 · LANDS ON BAR 22

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 22. 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 25, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 25 AND 70 · LANDS ON BAR 26

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 49 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 26. 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 29, and 4 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 29-33 · LANDS ON BAR 34

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 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 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.

Bar 35, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 35-36 · LANDS ON BAR 37

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 53 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 37. 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 41, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 41 AND 83 · LANDS ON BAR 42

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 42. 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 49, and 5 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 49-51 AND 91-93 · LANDS ON BAR 52

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 66 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 52. 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 56, and 2 more times

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 82 out of 100 -- hard -- 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.

Bar 61, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 61-62 · LANDS ON BAR 63

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. 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.

Bar 74, and 5 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 74-79 · LANDS ON BAR 80

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 57 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 80. 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 99, and 1 more time

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 99 AND 149 · LANDS ON BAR 100

On crash, high tom, floor tom and kick. 44 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 100. 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 101, and 2 more times

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 101-103 · LANDS ON BAR 104

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 65 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 104. 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 111

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 111 · LANDS ON BAR 112

On hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 64 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 112. 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 113, and 8 more times

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 122. 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 125

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 125 · LANDS ON BAR 126

On crash, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 58 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 126. 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 133, and 2 more times

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 136. 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 153

LOOP · 118 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 153

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 73 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for.

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 Symbol I:△?

21 distinct fills, played 69 times: bars 1-5, 7-8, 11, 13, 15-17 and 21, and 27 more places.

What is the hardest fill in Symbol I:△?

The one at bar 11, at 85 out of 100. 153 bars of 4/4 at 118 BPM, about 5:08 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 153 BARS ANALYSED