n popular music, a fill is a short musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the

listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody. "The terms riff and fill are
sometimes used interchangeably by musicians, but [while] the term riff usually refers to an exact
musical phrase repeated throughout a song", a fill is an improvised phrase played during a section
where nothing else is happening in the music.[2] While riffs are repeated, fills tend to be varied over
the course of a song. For example, a drummer may fill in the end of one phrase with a sixteenth note
hi-hat pattern, and then fill in the end of the next phrase with a snare drum figure.
In drumming, a fill is defined as a "short break in the groove--a lick that 'fills in the gaps' of the music
and/or signals the end of a phrase. It's kind of like a mini-solo."[3] A fill may be played
by rock or pop instruments such as the electric lead guitar or bass, organ, or drums, or by other
instruments such as strings or horns. In blues or swing-style scat singing, a fill may even be sung. In
a hip-hop group, a fill may consist of rhythmic turntable scratching performed by a DJ.
"Fills can vary as to style, length, and dynamics...[though] most fills are simple in structure and short
in duration"[4] Each type of popular music such as funk, country, and metal has characteristic fill
passages, such as short scalar licks, runs, or riffs. 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."[4]
Chordal fills on guitar or keyboard instruments are "groups of single notes played within the context
of a specific chord" to "produc[e] a countermelody."[5] A guitarist playing chordal fills will strum the
chord for several strums and then interpolate several passing notes that lead to the next chord.