Fortress · Queens Of The Stone Age

130 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 4:20 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Alternative / IndieRock120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
130
LENGTH
4:20
DIFFICULTY
62/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 23% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 7-8, 10-12 and 14-16, and 9 more places -- 23% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 120 BPM
FORTRESS · BAR 7
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

7 fills to learn, played 17 times: bars 5, 19, 43, 49, 51, 52 and 11 more.

LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6
LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 19 · LANDS ON BAR 20 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 49 · LANDS ON BAR 50 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BARS 51-53 · LANDS ON BAR 54 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

3 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

130 bars across 8 sections: 101 keep time, 17 are fills, 1 is a stop and 4 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 107-129.

PART D
CHORUS
PART L
PART D
OUTRO 2
5 groovesHDLIS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Fortress?

120 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 Fortress hard to play on drums?

62 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 33 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

130 bars, about 4:20 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 30 exercises over 9 sittings, about 28 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid 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 Fortress?

7 fills to learn, played 17 times: bars 5, 19, 43, 49, 51, 52 and 11 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 130 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Queens Of The Stone Age drum parts

EVERY QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →