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April Ethereal · Opeth

EXERCISE 9 OF 86
Groove E
66 / 258 BARS COVERED
0 / 86 PASSED · 7 BARS LIT · IN THE CHORUS, PART G, CHORUS 2
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
GROOVE · 16
FILL · 18
LAND · 18
RUN · 2
JOIN · 13
LINK · 7
SECTION · 11
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play April Ethereal on drums

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.

67 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet.

TEMPO
132 BPM
TIME
6/4
BARS
258
LENGTH
11:14
DIFFICULTY
67/100

hi-hat through bars 3-26, ride through bars 27-42, hi-hat through bars 43-56, kick and crashes through bars 57-60, ride through bars 61-75 and hi-hat through bars 76-77, and 10 more changes after that.

The beat

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.

    4
    1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a5e+a6e+a
HH |o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
SD |------x-----------x-----|
BD |xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|
April Ethereal -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

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

What the course does

It cuts the song into 67 exercises -- the grooves, the fills, and the joins between sections, which is where players actually come off -- and puts them in the order a teacher would. Each one opens on a reduction you can already play and adds the notes back a rung at a time, with a tempo to reach and a gate to pass before the next.

  1. The grooves the song is built on -- C -- 4 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- AB -- 1 exercise, about 18 minutes.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- S -- 3 exercises, about 22 minutes.
  4. Through the Chorus -- 3 exercises, about 26 minutes. Open above.
  5. Through the Chorus and Part G -- 6 exercises, about 33 minutes.
  6. Through Part G and the Chorus 2 -- 7 exercises, about 25 minutes.
  7. Through the Chorus 2 and Part L -- 3 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  8. Bars 57-79 -- 6 exercises, about 32 minutes.
  9. and 11 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

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