KING GNU · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in 一途 (The Only Way/Ichizu)

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 124 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
160 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
124
LENGTH
3:05
DIFFICULTY
78/100

Bar 58

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 58 · LANDS ON BAR 59

On hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. 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 70

LOOP · 160 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 70 · LANDS ON BAR 71

On hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 71. 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 一途 (The Only Way/Ichizu)?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 58 and 70.

What is the hardest fill in 一途 (The Only Way/Ichizu)?

The one at bar 58, at 75 out of 100. 124 bars at 160 BPM -- fast, and 3:05 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 124 BARS ANALYSED