5 fills to learn, played 19 times across 199 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.
On crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom 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 25. 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.
On crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. 100 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 31. 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.
On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 91 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 57. 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.
On crash, ride, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 75 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 61. 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.
On crash, ride, snare and kick. 71 out of 100 -- demanding -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 65. 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.
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 →5 distinct fills, played 19 times: bars 16-24, 29-30, 55-56, 60, 64 and 68, and 3 more places.
The one at bar 29, at 100 out of 100. 199 bars at 260 BPM -- fast, and 5:19 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.