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Present Tense · Radiohead

EXERCISE 6 OF 11
Run D1 · Chorus (bars 1-63)
96 / 117 BARS COVERED
0 / 11 PASSED · 63 BARS LIT · IN THE CHORUS
CHORUS
BREAK
CHORUS 2
BREAK 2
OUTRO
3 groovesDS2S4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 2
FILL · 2
LAND · 2
RUN · 1
JOIN · 2
SECTION · 1
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Present Tense on drums

117 bars of 4/4 at a walking 95 BPM, 4:54 of playing, on crash, snare and kick.

55 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in how much of it falls off the beat.

TEMPO
95 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
117
LENGTH
4:54
DIFFICULTY
55/100

kick and crashes through bars 1-3, snare through bars 4-5, kick and crashes through bars 6-63, silence through bars 64-74, kick and crashes through bars 75-99 and silence through bars 100-105, and 1 more change after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-63, 76-99 and 106-114 -- 91% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

    6
    1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a
CC |xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|
BD |g--gg--gg--gg---|
Present Tense -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

2 fills to learn, played 2 times: bars 5 and 75.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 8 exercises -- the grooves, the fills, and the joins between sections, which is where players actually come off -- and puts them in the order a teacher would. Each one opens on a reduction you can already play and adds the notes back a rung at a time, with a tempo to reach and a gate to pass before the next.

  1. The grooves the song is built on -- D -- 5 exercises, about 33 minutes.
  2. The whole song -- 6 exercises, about 30 minutes. Open above.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Present Tense?

95 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 Present Tense hard to play on drums?

55 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 43 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

117 bars, about 4:54 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 8 exercises over 2 sittings, about 32 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, snare and kick. Three pieces and no more -- this one is playable on almost anything with a kick, a snare and something to keep time on.

How many fills are in Present Tense?

2 fills to learn, played 2 times: bars 5 and 75.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 117 BARS ANALYSED