Chop Suey! · System of a Down

108 bars of 4/4 at 128 BPM, about 3:22 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

MetalAlternative / Indie120 to 149 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
128 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
108
LENGTH
3:22
DIFFICULTY
66/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 21% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 37, 41 and 58, and 6 more places -- 20.8% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 128 BPM
CHOP SUEY! · BAR 65
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 8 times: bars 17, 29, 33, 50, 54, 71 and 2 more.

LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18
LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 29 · LANDS ON BAR 30 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 33 · LANDS ON BAR 34 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 71 · LANDS ON BAR 72 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

108 bars across 13 sections: 75 keep time, 8 are fills, 3 are stops and 7 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 94-106.

PART S1
PART C
PART E
CHORUS
PART E
CHORUS 2
PART K
CHORUS 3
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
8 groovesHKEJS1+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Chop Suey!?

128 BPM, in 4/4, 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 Chop Suey! hard to play on drums?

66 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 46 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

108 bars, about 3:22 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 35 exercises over 11 sittings, about 23 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 Chop Suey!?

4 fills to learn, played 8 times: bars 17, 29, 33, 50, 54, 71 and 2 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 108 BARS ANALYSED
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