MICK GORDON · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in The Only Thing They Fear Is You

4 fills to learn, played 7 times across 170 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
103 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
170
LENGTH
6:36
DIFFICULTY
63/100

Bar 13, and 1 more time

LOOP · 103 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 13 AND 73 · LANDS ON BAR 14

On crash, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. 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 25

LOOP · 103 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 25 · LANDS ON BAR 26

On crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick. 79 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. 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 65

LOOP · 103 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 65 · LANDS ON BAR 66

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 81 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 66. 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 67, and 2 more times

LOOP · 103 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 67-69 · LANDS ON BAR 70

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 77 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 70. 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 Only Thing They Fear Is You?

4 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 13, 25, 65, 67-69 and 73.

What is the hardest fill in The Only Thing They Fear Is You?

The one at bar 65, at 81 out of 100. 170 bars of 4/4 at a walking 103 BPM, 6:36 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 170 BARS ANALYSED