Futile · Porcupine Tree

172 bars of 4/4 at 112 BPM, about 6:02 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

ProgressiveMetal90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
112 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
172
LENGTH
6:02
DIFFICULTY
63/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 23% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 61-83 and 109-123 -- 22.9% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 112 BPM
FUTILE · BAR 62
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

7 fills to learn, played 13 times: bars 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, 84 and 7 more.

LOOP · 112 BPM
BAR 12 · LANDS ON BAR 13 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 112 BPM
BAR 84 · LANDS ON BAR 85
LOOP · 112 BPM
BAR 128 · LANDS ON BAR 129

4 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

172 bars across 15 sections: 101 keep time, 13 are fills, 40 are stops and 6 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 62-83.

PART F
PART J
CHORUS
PART Q
CHORUS 2
PART Q
CHORUS 3
11 groovesMQFJB+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Futile?

112 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 Futile hard to play on drums?

63 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 47 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

172 bars, about 6:02 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 38 exercises over 11 sittings, about 26 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 Futile?

7 fills to learn, played 13 times: bars 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, 84 and 7 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 172 BARS ANALYSED
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