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Closer To The Edge · 30 Seconds to Mars

EXERCISE 5 OF 34
Groove B -- Part B
38 / 73 BARS COVERED
0 / 34 PASSED · 7 BARS LIT · IN THE PART B
COUNT-IN
PART B
PART D
CHORUS
PART L
CHORUS 2
PART P
OUTRO
8 groovesGLPBD+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 6
FILL · 6
LAND · 6
RUN · 3
JOIN · 6
LINK · 2
SECTION · 4
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Closer To The Edge on drums

73 bars, 4:10, at 70 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

72 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat.

TEMPO
70 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
73
LENGTH
4:10
DIFFICULTY
72/100

silence through bars 1-4, toms through bars 5-12, hi-hat through bars 13-15, snare through bars 16-24, toms through bars 25-28 and hi-hat through bars 29-36, and 3 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 18-19, 22-23 and 38-39, and 7 more places -- 22.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    18
    1.......2.......3.......4.......
CC |x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|
SD |----x-x-------x-----x-x-----x---|
BD |x-x-------x-----x-x-----x-x---x-|
Closer To The Edge -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

6 fills to learn, played 14 times: bars 12, 16, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 8 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 27 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 -- G -- 1 exercise, about 16 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- F -- 1 exercise, about 16 minutes.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- P -- 2 exercises, about 20 minutes.
  4. Through Part B -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes. Open above.
  5. Through Part B and Part D -- 4 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  6. Bars 11-18 -- 5 exercises, about 20 minutes.
  7. Through the Chorus and Part L -- 4 exercises, about 33 minutes.
  8. Bars 25-43 -- 7 exercises, about 34 minutes.
  9. and 2 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Closer To The Edge?

70 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is Closer To The Edge hard to play on drums?

72 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 59 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

73 bars, about 4:10 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 27 exercises over 10 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 Closer To The Edge?

6 fills to learn, played 14 times: bars 12, 16, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 8 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 73 BARS ANALYSED