Illumination · Marty Friedman

69 bars, 3:49, at 70 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

Under 90 BPM
TEMPO
70 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
69
LENGTH
3:49
DIFFICULTY
55/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 16% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-14 and 37 -- 16.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 70 BPM
ILLUMINATION · BAR 7
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

16 fills to learn, played 19 times: bars 15, 17, 21, 23, 27, 29 and 13 more.

LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 15 · LANDS ON BAR 16
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 23 · LANDS ON BAR 24
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 27 · LANDS ON BAR 28

12 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

69 bars across 7 sections: 35 keep time, 19 are fills, 3 are stops and 8 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 5-14.

COUNT-IN
PART B
CHORUS
PART S4
CHORUS 2
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
6 groovesDSQBS4+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Illumination?

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 Illumination hard to play on drums?

55 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 31 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

69 bars, about 3:49 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 33 exercises over 9 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Illumination?

16 fills to learn, played 19 times: bars 15, 17, 21, 23, 27, 29 and 13 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 69 BARS ANALYSED
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