ENTROPIC · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in The Cosmic Origin

6 fills to learn, played 60 times across 93 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
210 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
93
LENGTH
1:49
DIFFICULTY
100/100

Bar 5

LOOP · 210 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- 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 14, and 45 more times

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 60. 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 71

LOOP · 210 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 71 · LANDS ON BAR 72

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 72. 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 73

LOOP · 210 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 73 · LANDS ON BAR 74

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 95 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 74. 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 76

LOOP · 210 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 76 · LANDS ON BAR 77

On snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 62 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 77. 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 81, and 9 more times

LOOP · 210 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 81-90 · LANDS ON BAR 91

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 91. 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 The Cosmic Origin?

6 distinct fills, played 60 times: bars 5, 14-59, 71, 73, 76 and 81-90.

What is the hardest fill in The Cosmic Origin?

The one at bar 5, at 100 out of 100. 93 bars at 210 BPM -- fast, and 1:49 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 93 BARS ANALYSED