Pale Blue Dot · Dream Theater

236 bars of 4/4 at 142 BPM, about 7:14 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Progressive120 to 149 BPMAdvanced
TEMPO
142 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
236
LENGTH
7:14
DIFFICULTY
75/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 11% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 44, 46 and 48, and 21 more places -- 11.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 142 BPM
PALE BLUE DOT · BAR 44
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

20 fills to learn, played 43 times: bars 43, 45, 53, 55, 57, 70 and 37 more.

LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 43 · LANDS ON BAR 44
LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 45 · LANDS ON BAR 46 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 55 · LANDS ON BAR 56
LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 70 · LANDS ON BAR 71 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

16 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

236 bars across 20 sections: 121 keep time, 43 are fills, 21 are stops and 26 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 10-24.

PART D
CHORUS
PART AC
PART AH
CHORUS 2
PART BA
PART O
PART AG
OUTRO
BREAK
16 groovesSODBAS20+11Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Pale Blue Dot?

142 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second 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 Pale Blue Dot hard to play on drums?

75 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 43 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

236 bars, about 7:14 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 85 exercises over 28 sittings, about 25 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 Pale Blue Dot?

20 fills to learn, played 43 times: bars 43, 45, 53, 55, 57, 70 and 37 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 236 BARS ANALYSED
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