PROVINZ · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Walzer

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 69 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
86 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
69
LENGTH
2:24
DIFFICULTY
29/100

Bar 45

LOOP · 86 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 45 · LANDS ON BAR 46

On snare. 15 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. 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 61

LOOP · 86 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 61 · LANDS ON BAR 62

On ride, snare, mid tom and kick. 26 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how much of it falls off the beat. In the song it lands on bar 62. 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 Walzer?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 45 and 61.

What is the hardest fill in Walzer?

The one at bar 61, at 26 out of 100. 69 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 86 BPM, 2:24 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 69 BARS ANALYSED