BATTLEAXE · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Voyage Of The Mighty Longship

3 fills to learn, played 3 times across 136 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
120 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
136
LENGTH
3:25
DIFFICULTY
97/100

Bar 16

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 16 · LANDS ON BAR 17

On high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 70 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 17. 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 48

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 48 · LANDS ON BAR 49

On crash, ride, snare and kick. 96 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 49. 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 52

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 52 · LANDS ON BAR 53

On crash, ride, snare and kick. 92 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 53. 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 Voyage Of The Mighty Longship?

3 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 16, 48 and 52.

What is the hardest fill in Voyage Of The Mighty Longship?

The one at bar 48, at 96 out of 100. 136 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 120 BPM, 3:25 of playing on crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 136 BARS ANALYSED