STRYPER · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in To Hell With Devil

2 fills to learn, played 7 times across 122 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
122
LENGTH
4:04
DIFFICULTY
50/100

Bar 38, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 38 AND 64 · LANDS ON BAR 39

On snare and kick. 22 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 39. 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 118, and 4 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 118-122

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 32 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat.

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 To Hell With Devil?

2 distinct fills, played 7 times: bars 38, 64 and 118-122.

What is the hardest fill in To Hell With Devil?

The one at bar 118, at 32 out of 100. 122 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 4:04 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 122 BARS ANALYSED