Mike Portnoy
Dream Theater · Progressive-metal architect — coordination, orchestration, odd meters
The fills Mike Portnoy actually uses across their path, moves and song studies — each one opens the same exercise workout the rest of the app links to.
Fills Around the Kit
Level 2Fills · 55–150 BPM
You trade: one bar of normal groove, one bar of fill. The fill walks down the kit in order so you always know where your hands are going next.
Goal: Confident fills with a clean re-entry
WorkoutLinear Fills (Kick–Hand–Hand)
Level 4Fills · 55–140 BPM
A repeating group of three: kick, then hand, then hand. Because a bar of 16ths is 16 notes and the group is 3 notes long, the pattern shifts every bar — which is why it sounds clever.
Goal: Modern linear fill vocabulary
Workout