NEIL YOUNG · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Words (Between the Lines of Age)

2 fills to learn, played 4 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
65 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
136
LENGTH
6:37
DIFFICULTY
59/100

Bar 64, and 2 more times

LOOP · 65 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 64-66 · LANDS ON BAR 67

On crash, snare and kick. 61 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 67. 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 · 65 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 92 · LANDS ON BAR 93

On hi-hat, mid tom and kick. 30 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how fine the subdivision is. In the song it lands on bar 93. 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 Words (Between the Lines of Age)?

2 distinct fills, played 4 times: bars 64-66 and 92.

What is the hardest fill in Words (Between the Lines of Age)?

The one at bar 64, at 61 out of 100. 136 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 65 BPM, 6:37 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 136 BARS ANALYSED