Bottom · Tool

129 bars of 8/4 -- not four -- at 145 BPM, 5:48 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

MetalRock120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
145 BPM
TIME
8/4
BARS
129
LENGTH
5:48
DIFFICULTY
67/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 20% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 51, 53 and 55, and 13 more places -- 19.5% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 145 BPM
BOTTOM · BAR 51
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

8 fills to learn, played 19 times: bars 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29 and 13 more.

LOOP · 145 BPM
BAR 9 · LANDS ON BAR 10 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 145 BPM
BAR 13 · LANDS ON BAR 14 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 145 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18
LOOP · 145 BPM
BARS 29-30 · LANDS ON BAR 31 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

4 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

129 bars across 7 sections: 58 keep time, 20 are fills, 1 is a stop and 47 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 52-73.

PART B
PART F
PART S4
PART X
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
7 groovesS7ZFBS4+2Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Bottom?

145 BPM, in 8/4, with the time kept in thirty-second 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 Bottom hard to play on drums?

67 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 32 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

129 bars, about 5:48 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 31 exercises over 14 sittings, about 22 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 Bottom?

8 fills to learn, played 19 times: bars 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29 and 13 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 129 BARS ANALYSED
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