# Fills

A fill says something is about to change. The hard part is arriving back on beat 1
exactly on time.

## One-beat fill (beat 4)

    hat    x - x - x - x - x - x - - - - -
    tom1   - - - - - - - - - - - - - o - -
    tom2   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - o -
    tom4   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - o
    snare  - - - - o - - - - - - - o - - -
    kick   o - - - - - - - o - - - - - - -

Count it as "four-ee-and-a". Four strokes, one beat, no more. Most fills that go
wrong are a fill that would not fit.

## Landing

The point of a fill is the beat after it. If the crash is late, the fill was too
full — take a note out rather than hurrying. An empty last sixteenth is invisible;
a late beat 1 is the most audible mistake a drummer can make.

## Which toms

This kit's middle two toms are about a semitone and a half apart, so running all
four sounds like three steps and a repeat. Use toms 1, 2 and the floor tom.