How do I hit the monster drum fill in Rob The Prez-O-Dent?

Question

I come to you, sages of gaming.se, with a very large problem.

Day in, day out, I find myself stumped by a certain drum fill in the song Rob The Prez-O-Dent, found in the nightmarish depths of Rock Band 2's cave. The fill moves at inhuman speeds in spite of its massive size. I can only conclude that the fill...the fill is a monster.

A monster slaughtered during the 0:15-0:18 section of this video. That cry at the end could have only belonged to another of its kind, however, and so the video is useless to a human being.

I train hard, having brought the monster into practice mode and having worked up from 50% speed all the way to 80% speed. However, just as with the chorus of Guns of Summer, I am unable to understand the monstrous fill at 90%, and as a result, at...100%(I shudder at the very thought). Even if I could fully understand the appearance of the monster, to strike so fast with both my drumsticks and my right foot in such different ways seems incredibly difficult...I fear that in overcoming the monster, I may become the monster myself. Alas, I digress.

Can any of the sages here at gaming.se show me how I might overcome this challenge? Tell me of rudiments I should practice, rhythms I should tap out, or a secret weakness, such as a pattern, in the grotesque appearance of the monster fill?

Answer 1

An additional tip ... break it down to understand it! Not just by notes as a previous poster suggested, but also by phrases.

Reading the scorehero chart can help to grok the fill in bar 21.

This particular segment really revolves around BO-R-R-O-BR-X in a 3+3+2 8th note rhythm. First work that sequence, then add the pickup notes to get:

       | BO-R-R-O-BR-X 
[RO-R] | BO-R-R-O-BR-X 
[RO-R] | BO-R-R-O-BR-X [R-R]

Still not simple, but hopefully something easier to understand. You equipment+skill may also determine if you can double stroke the snare hits.

Hang in there ... next thing you know you'll be breaking down Young Man Blues :)

Answer 2

The best advice I can give comes from years of playing a real instrument: the piano. Practice on 50% more. When you think you've practiced enough, keep practicing, twice as long. Skip straight from 50% to 100% and play it without thinking; just do what you've already trained yourself to do.

Don't play it repeatedly on 100%; only ever practice it on 50%. When you play it up to speed, it should be only to see if you can do it, not to try to practice it up there. Slow practice is the key to muscle memory, and that is what is required for something on the ridiculous side such as this.

Obviously, getting beast at other songs with progressively harder fills does its part to help as well, but for mastering one specific pattern, slow practice is the end-all of helpful techniques.

Answer 3

As a casual drummer, the only tips i could offer would be to practice at 100% speed, but focus on one element at a time. So, get your head wrapped around the red notes, then when you are comfortable with that, bring in the blue ones, then the bass.

One element at a time.

That's the best I got.