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Bottom · Tool

EXERCISE 17 OF 40
Groove J
52 / 129 BARS COVERED
0 / 40 PASSED · 3 BARS LIT · IN THE PART F
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
GROOVE · 9
FILL · 8
LAND · 8
RUN · 2
JOIN · 5
LINK · 2
SECTION · 5
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Bottom on drums

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.

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

TEMPO
145 BPM
TIME
8/4
BARS
129
LENGTH
5:48
DIFFICULTY
67/100

kick and crashes through bar 1, hi-hat through bars 2-17, ride through bars 18-21, hi-hat through bars 22-29, ride through bars 30-42 and hi-hat through bars 43-83, and 1 more change after that.

The beat

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.

    51
    1.......2.......3.......4.......5.......6.......7.......8.......
CC |x---------------------------------------------------------------|
HH |--------o-------x---x---o-------x---x---o-------x---x---o-------|
SD |----------------r-------------------------------r---------------|
BD |x-----------------------------------------------------------x---|
Bottom -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

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

What the course does

It cuts the song into 31 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 -- Z -- 1 exercise, about 11 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- F -- 1 exercise, about 23 minutes.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- X -- 5 exercises, about 31 minutes.
  4. Through Part B -- 2 exercises, about 27 minutes.
  5. Through Part B and Part F -- 5 exercises, about 23 minutes.
  6. Through Part F -- 2 exercises, about 10 minutes.
  7. Through Part F -- 1 exercise, about 22 minutes. Open above.
  8. Through Part F -- 1 exercise, about 23 minutes.
  9. and 6 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

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