Parabola · Tool

126 bars of 4/4 at a walking 97 BPM, 5:48 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

ProgressiveMetal90 to 119 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
97 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
126
LENGTH
5:48
DIFFICULTY
82/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 6% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 9-15 -- 6.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 97 BPM
PARABOLA · BAR 10
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

14 fills to learn, played 36 times: bars 16, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 30 more.

LOOP · 97 BPM
BAR 16 · LANDS ON BAR 17
LOOP · 97 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25
LOOP · 97 BPM
BARS 33-36 · LANDS ON BAR 37 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 97 BPM
BARS 44-52 · LANDS ON BAR 53 · PLAYED 9 TIMES

10 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

126 bars across 11 sections: 60 keep time, 36 are fills, 4 are stops and 13 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 7-15.

PART E
PART G
PART Q
PART Y
PART AF
PART AP
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
11 groovesS11AFQASE+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Parabola?

97 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 Parabola hard to play on drums?

82 out of 100. Hard, and what makes it hard is the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 68 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

126 bars, about 5:48 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 52 exercises over 20 sittings, about 24 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 Parabola?

14 fills to learn, played 36 times: bars 16, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 30 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 126 BARS ANALYSED
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