WEEZER · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Troublemaker

2 fills to learn, played 3 times across 89 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
131 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
89
LENGTH
2:43
DIFFICULTY
56/100

Bar 70, and 1 more time

LOOP · 131 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 70-71 · LANDS ON BAR 72

On crash and kick. 16 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 72. 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 89

LOOP · 131 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 89

On hi-hat, snare 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 Troublemaker?

2 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 70-71 and 89.

What is the hardest fill in Troublemaker?

The one at bar 89, at 45 out of 100. 89 bars of 4/4 at 131 BPM, about 2:43 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 89 BARS ANALYSED