GURRIERS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Top of the Bill

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 121 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
126 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
121
LENGTH
3:50
DIFFICULTY
55/100

Bar 81

LOOP · 126 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 81 · LANDS ON BAR 82

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 38 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 82. 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 121

LOOP · 126 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 121

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 45 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet.

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 Top of the Bill?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 81 and 121.

What is the hardest fill in Top of the Bill?

The one at bar 121, at 45 out of 100. 121 bars of 4/4 at 126 BPM, about 3:50 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 121 BARS ANALYSED