JORGE ARAB · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in The Storm

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 76 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
190 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
76
LENGTH
1:36
DIFFICULTY
60/100

Bar 21, and 1 more time

LOOP · 190 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 21 AND 33 · LANDS ON BAR 22

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 45 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 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 49, and 2 more times

LOOP · 190 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 49-51 · LANDS ON BAR 52

On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 46 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 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.

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 Storm?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 21, 33 and 49-51.

What is the hardest fill in The Storm?

The one at bar 21, at 53 out of 100. 76 bars at 190 BPM -- fast, and 1:36 of it without a break -- on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 76 BARS ANALYSED