Fill

A short passage played to bridge the gap between two sections of a song or to complete the end of a phrase.

A fill lives in the space a singer leaves, so it is usually short, rhythmically decisive and designed to lead into whatever comes next. On guitar it may be a scale run, a rake, a bend or a percussive figure, and it often ends on a note that sets up the following chord. Fills are one of the clearest examples of playing for the arrangement rather than for the instrument, which is why session players are judged on them as much as on solos.

Example: The short answering phrase played at the end of a vocal line, just before the chorus arrives, is a fill.

Fill

See also