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Protect the Land · System of a Down

EXERCISE 14 OF 40
Groove H -- Part H (a two-bar phrase)
48 / 87 BARS COVERED
0 / 40 PASSED · 9 BARS LIT · IN THE PART H
CHORUS
PART F
PART H
PART F
PART H
CHORUS 2
PART S9
PART H
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
8 groovesCHLFS9+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 9
FILL · 6
LAND · 6
RUN · 2
JOIN · 8
LINK · 2
SECTION · 6
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Protect the Land on drums

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.

69 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet.

TEMPO
75 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
87
LENGTH
4:36
DIFFICULTY
69/100

toms through bars 3-4, hi-hat through bars 5-18, ride through bars 19-22, hi-hat through bars 23-36, ride through bars 37-40 and hi-hat through bars 41-53, and 4 more changes after that.

The beat

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.

    6
    1.......2.......3.......4.......
HH |o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---|
SD |--------x-----gg--g-----x-----gg|
BD |x---x-----------x---x-x---------|
Protect the Land -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

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

What the course does

It cuts the song into 33 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 -- C -- 1 exercise, about 16 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- L -- 1 exercise, about 16 minutes.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- K -- 4 exercises, about 27 minutes.
  4. Through the Break and the Chorus -- 3 exercises, about 22 minutes.
  5. Through the Chorus and Part F -- 4 exercises, about 28 minutes.
  6. Through Part H -- 4 exercises, about 25 minutes. Open above.
  7. Through Part F and Part H -- 6 exercises, about 26 minutes.
  8. Through Part H and the Chorus 2 -- 2 exercises, about 21 minutes.
  9. and 4 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

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