THE ART OF INSANITY · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in test

2 fills to learn, played 11 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
123 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
148
LENGTH
4:49
DIFFICULTY
56/100

Bar 20, and 2 more times

LOOP · 123 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 20, 60 AND 132 · LANDS ON BAR 21

On crash, snare, floor tom and kick. 45 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 21. 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 117, and 7 more times

LOOP · 123 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 117-124 · LANDS ON BAR 125

On crash, snare and kick. 52 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 125. 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 test?

2 distinct fills, played 11 times: bars 20, 60, 117-124 and 132.

What is the hardest fill in test?

The one at bar 20, at 53 out of 100. 148 bars of 4/4 at 123 BPM, about 4:49 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 148 BARS ANALYSED