Epitaph · King Crimson

137 bars, 8:26, at 65 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.

ProgressiveRockUnder 90 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
65 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
137
LENGTH
8:26
DIFFICULTY
73/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 15% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 11-26 and 40-42 -- 14.6% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 65 BPM
EPITAPH · BAR 11
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

16 fills to learn, played 26 times: bars 5, 9, 32, 39, 43, 61 and 20 more.

LOOP · 65 BPM
BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 65 BPM
BAR 32 · LANDS ON BAR 33
LOOP · 65 BPM
BAR 39 · LANDS ON BAR 40
LOOP · 65 BPM
BAR 43 · LANDS ON BAR 44

12 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

137 bars across 16 sections: 84 keep time, 26 are fills, 6 are stops and 7 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 11-26.

PART S2
PART D
PART H
PART D
PART M
PART A
PART W
PART E
OUTRO 2
11 groovesGDAEH+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Epitaph?

65 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 Epitaph hard to play on drums?

73 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 24 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

137 bars, about 8:26 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 55 exercises over 17 sittings, about 24 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 Epitaph?

16 fills to learn, played 26 times: bars 5, 9, 32, 39, 43, 61 and 20 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 137 BARS ANALYSED
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