Protect the Land · System of a Down

87 bars, 4:36, at 75 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

MetalUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
75 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
87
LENGTH
4:36
DIFFICULTY
69/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 14% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 5-8, 10 and 12, and 4 more places -- 14.1% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 75 BPM
PROTECT THE LAND · BAR 6
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

6 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 3, 4, 14, 18, 22, 32 and 6 more.

LOOP · 75 BPM
BARS 3-4 · LANDS ON BAR 5 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 75 BPM
BAR 14 · LANDS ON BAR 15 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 75 BPM
BAR 18 · LANDS ON BAR 19 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 75 BPM
BAR 22 · LANDS ON BAR 23 · PLAYED 4 TIMES

2 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

87 bars across 13 sections: 51 keep time, 12 are fills, 2 are stops and 9 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 79-86.

CHORUS
PART F
PART H
PART F
CHORUS 2
PART S9
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
8 groovesCHLFS9+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Protect the Land?

75 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 Protect the Land hard to play on drums?

69 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 59 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

87 bars, about 4:36 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 33 exercises over 12 sittings, about 23 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 Protect the Land?

6 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 3, 4, 14, 18, 22, 32 and 6 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 87 BARS ANALYSED
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