HERBIE HANCOCK · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Watermelon Man head hunters

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 197 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
146 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
197
LENGTH
5:24
DIFFICULTY
46/100

Bar 125

LOOP · 146 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 125 · LANDS ON BAR 126

On snare. 5 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 126. 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 129

LOOP · 146 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 129 · LANDS ON BAR 130

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 34 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 130. 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 Watermelon Man head hunters?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 125 and 129.

What is the hardest fill in Watermelon Man head hunters?

The one at bar 129, at 34 out of 100. 197 bars of 4/4 at 146 BPM, about 5:24 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 197 BARS ANALYSED