PORCUPINE TREE · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Trains

4 fills to learn, played 18 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
87 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
124
LENGTH
4:56
DIFFICULTY
64/100

Bar 45

LOOP · 87 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 45 · LANDS ON BAR 46

On crash, ride, snare, high tom, floor tom and kick. 57 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 46. 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 47

LOOP · 87 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 47 · LANDS ON BAR 48

On ride, hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 68 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 48. 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 105, and 9 more times

LOOP · 87 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 105-114 · LANDS ON BAR 115

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 69 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 115. 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 5 more times

LOOP · 87 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 118-123 · LANDS ON BAR 124

On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 124. 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 Trains?

4 distinct fills, played 18 times: bars 45, 47, 105-114 and 118-123.

What is the hardest fill in Trains?

The one at bar 118, at 70 out of 100. 124 bars of 4/4 at a walking 87 BPM, 4:56 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 124 BARS ANALYSED