CONTAMINANT · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Unidentified Corpses

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 92 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
150 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
92
LENGTH
2:26
DIFFICULTY
74/100

Bar 83

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 83 · LANDS ON BAR 84

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 74 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 84. 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 92

LOOP · 150 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 92

On snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 72 out of 100 -- demanding -- 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 Unidentified Corpses?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 83 and 92.

What is the hardest fill in Unidentified Corpses?

The one at bar 83, at 74 out of 100. 92 bars of 4/4 at 150 BPM, about 2:26 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 92 BARS ANALYSED