Crystal Skull · Mastodon

131 bars of 4/4 at 154 BPM, about 3:22 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

ProgressiveMetal150 BPM and upShuffle / triplet
TEMPO
154 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
131
LENGTH
3:22
DIFFICULTY
84/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 15% of the song

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 23, 27 and 39, and 2 more places -- 15.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 154 BPM
CRYSTAL SKULL · BARS 104-105
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

15 fills to learn, played 36 times: bars 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 30 more.

LOOP · 154 BPM
BARS 11-12 · LANDS ON BAR 13 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 154 BPM
BAR 14 · LANDS ON BAR 15 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 154 BPM
BAR 16 · LANDS ON BAR 17 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 154 BPM
BAR 20 · LANDS ON BAR 21 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

11 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

131 bars across 16 sections: 66 keep time, 36 are fills, 2 are stops and 8 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 105-118.

COUNT-IN
CHORUS
CHORUS 2
PART P
CHORUS 3
PART X
PART AG
PART AK
PART L
OUTRO 2
10 groovesFLAGXP+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Crystal Skull?

154 BPM, in 4/4, 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 Crystal Skull hard to play on drums?

84 out of 100. Hard, and what makes it hard is how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 74 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

131 bars, about 3:22 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 57 exercises over 17 sittings, about 27 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 Crystal Skull?

15 fills to learn, played 36 times: bars 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 30 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 131 BARS ANALYSED
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