Fill (music)

"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.

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.

In a hip-hop group, a fill may consist of rhythmic turntable scratching performed by a DJ.

"[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.

In other styles, such as bluegrass, performers are more likely to use standard "walkup" or "walkdown" scalar passages as fills in every song.