On The Backs Of Angels · Dream Theater

272 bars of 4/4 at 138 BPM, about 7:47 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

RockProgressive120 to 149 BPMAdvanced
TEMPO
138 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
272
LENGTH
7:47
DIFFICULTY
60/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 12% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 28-30, 36-38 and 68-74, and 6 more places -- 11.5% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 138 BPM
ON THE BACKS OF ANGELS · BAR 28
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

32 fills to learn, played 93 times: bars 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 87 more.

LOOP · 138 BPM
BARS 13-23 · LANDS ON BAR 24 · PLAYED 11 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BAR 31 · LANDS ON BAR 32 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BAR 35 · LANDS ON BAR 36 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BAR 39 · LANDS ON BAR 40

28 more fills are written out on the fills page.

THE SHAPE

How the song is built

272 bars across 41 sections: 119 keep time, 93 are fills, 4 are stops and 10 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 5-12.

PART E
PART AM
22 groovesPSBPEAU+17Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is On The Backs Of Angels?

138 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 On The Backs Of Angels hard to play on drums?

60 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 34 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

272 bars, about 7:47 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 119 exercises over 35 sittings, about 25 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, 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 On The Backs Of Angels?

32 fills to learn, played 93 times: bars 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 87 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 272 BARS ANALYSED
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