311 · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in You Wouldn't Believe

3 fills to learn, played 11 times across 152 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
175 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
152
LENGTH
3:28
DIFFICULTY
55/100

Bar 31, and 3 more times

LOOP · 175 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 31-32 AND 107-108 · LANDS ON BAR 33

On crash, hi-hat, snare and kick. 51 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 33. 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 40, and 4 more times

LOOP · 175 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 40, 56, 64, 116 AND 132 · LANDS ON BAR 41

On snare and kick. 46 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 41. 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, and 1 more time

LOOP · 175 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 48 AND 124 · LANDS ON BAR 49

On high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 50 out of 100 -- a step up -- 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.

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 You Wouldn't Believe?

3 distinct fills, played 11 times: bars 31-32, 40, 48, 56, 64 and 107-108, and 3 more places.

What is the hardest fill in You Wouldn't Believe?

The one at bar 31, at 59 out of 100. 152 bars at 175 BPM -- fast, and 3:28 of it without a break -- on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 152 BARS ANALYSED