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In popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
, a fill is a shortened musical passage, riff
RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....
, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrase
Phrase (music)

In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. In common practice, phrases are often four and most often eight bar s, or Measure s, long....
s of a melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
.

A fill may be played by rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 or pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 instruments such as the electric guitar
Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses pickup to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker....
 or bass
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
, organ, or drums, or by other instruments such as strings or horns
Horn section

In music, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musicians. In can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play Horn . In modern music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a band....
. In blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 or swing
Swing

Swing may refer to:...
-style scat singing, a fill may even be sung. In a hip-hop group, a fill may consist of rhythmic turntable
Turntablism

Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonographs and a DJ mixer. The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer to manipulate sound....
 scratching
Scratching

Scratching is a DJ or Turntablism technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a phonograph while manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer....
 performed by a DJ.

"Fills can vary as to style, length, and dynamics...[though] most fills are simple in structure and short in duration" Each type of popular music such as funk, country, and metal has characteristic fill passages, such as short scalar licks
Lick (music)

In popular music genres such as rock music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short phrase , or series of note that is used in solos and melodic lines....
, runs, or riff
RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....
s.






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Encyclopedia


In popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
, a fill is a shortened musical passage, riff
RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....
, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrase
Phrase (music)

In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. In common practice, phrases are often four and most often eight bar s, or Measure s, long....
s of a melody
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
.

A fill may be played by rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 or pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 instruments such as the electric guitar
Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses pickup to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker....
 or bass
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
, organ, or drums, or by other instruments such as strings or horns
Horn section

In music, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musicians. In can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play Horn . In modern music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a band....
. In blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 or swing
Swing

Swing may refer to:...
-style scat singing, a fill may even be sung. In a hip-hop group, a fill may consist of rhythmic turntable
Turntablism

Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonographs and a DJ mixer. The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer to manipulate sound....
 scratching
Scratching

Scratching is a DJ or Turntablism technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a phonograph while manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer....
 performed by a DJ.

"Fills can vary as to style, length, and dynamics...[though] most fills are simple in structure and short in duration" Each type of popular music such as funk, country, and metal has characteristic fill passages, such as short scalar licks
Lick (music)

In popular music genres such as rock music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short phrase , or series of note that is used in solos and melodic lines....
, runs, or riff
RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....
s. Musicians are expected to be able to select and perform stylistically appropriate fills from a collection of stock fills and phrases. "Although it is a small break in the pattern, the tempo is not changed at all, and in most instances the time-keeping pattern is resumed immediately after the fill...An important point to remember is that the flow of the music should not be sacrificed to the technicality of the fill."

Tradition and improvisation


In some styles, such as jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 or jazz fusion
Jazz fusion

Fusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that merges jazz with elements of other styles of music, particularly funk, Rock and roll, R&B, electronic music, and world music, but also pop music, classical music, and folk music, or sometimes even Heavy metal music, reggae, ska, country music, hip hop...
, musicians have more freedom to improvise fill passages each time a piece or songs is performed. In other styles, such as bluegrass
Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and is a sub-genre of country music. It has its own roots in Folk music of Ireland, Music of Scotland, Music of Wales and Folk Music of England traditional music....
, performers are more likely to use standard "walkup" or "walkdown" scalar passages as fills in every song. Some groups use previously composed fills as part of the identity of a song. The Eagles, for example, play the same fills each time they perform the same song.

Comparison with similar techniques

Fills are distinguished from solo breaks, which are short, often unaccompanied solo passages interpolated between sections of a song. Whereas fills are relatively unobtrusive, solo breaks such as bass run
Bass run

A bass run is a short instrumental break or fill in which the Bass , such as an bass guitar or a double bass and the bassline are given the forefront ....
s are usually composed to draw attention to the soloist's virtuoso skills by using difficult techniques and rapid passages.

Fill passages are also distinguished from "lead" passages, in which a musical instrument becomes a melodic substitute for the singer for a substantial period, and from solos such as guitar solo
Guitar solo

Guitar solos are a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, rock , metal and jazz styles such as swing and jazz fusion....
s.

See also


  • Lead guitar
    Lead guitar

    Lead guitar refers to the use of a guitar to perform melody lines, fill , and guitar solos within a song structure.In rock music, heavy metal music, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop music contexts as well as others, the lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompan...
  • Riff
    RIFF

    The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....


Sources