April Ethereal · Opeth

258 bars of 6/4 -- not four -- at 132 BPM, 11:14 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

MetalProgressive120 to 149 BPMShuffle / tripletAdvanced
TEMPO
132 BPM
TIME
6/4
BARS
258
LENGTH
11:14
DIFFICULTY
67/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 16% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 3-9, 11-12 and 14-21, and 5 more places -- 16.1% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 132 BPM
APRIL ETHEREAL · BAR 4
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

18 fills to learn, played 26 times: bars 2, 10, 22, 26, 34, 42 and 20 more.

LOOP · 132 BPM
BAR 2 · LANDS ON BAR 3
LOOP · 132 BPM
BAR 10 · LANDS ON BAR 11
LOOP · 132 BPM
BAR 22 · LANDS ON BAR 23 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 132 BPM
BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27

14 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

258 bars across 15 sections: 132 keep time, 26 are fills, 6 are stops and 78 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 87-100.

CHORUS
PART G
CHORUS 2
PART L
PART S
PART V
PART AB
OUTRO
BREAK
14 groovesS15CABGL+9Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is April Ethereal?

132 BPM, in 6/4, with the time kept in sixteenth notes. The room plays it at any tempo from a quarter of that up to the written one, against the record where the record can follow.

Is April Ethereal hard to play on drums?

67 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 78 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

258 bars, about 11:14 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 67 exercises over 19 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in April Ethereal?

18 fills to learn, played 26 times: bars 2, 10, 22, 26, 34, 42 and 20 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 258 BARS ANALYSED
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