I PREVAIL · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Violent Nature

3 fills to learn, played 5 times across 91 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
170 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
91
LENGTH
2:08
DIFFICULTY
82/100

Bar 5, and 1 more time

LOOP · 170 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 5 AND 66 · LANDS ON BAR 6

On crash, ride, snare and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 6. 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 34

LOOP · 170 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 34 · LANDS ON BAR 35

On hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom and kick. 78 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 35. 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 90, and 1 more time

LOOP · 170 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 90-91

On crash, snare and kick. 67 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for.

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 Violent Nature?

3 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 5, 34, 66 and 90-91.

What is the hardest fill in Violent Nature?

The one at bar 34, at 78 out of 100. 91 bars at 170 BPM -- fast, and 2:08 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 91 BARS ANALYSED