Serpent on the cross · Paradise Lost

121 bars of 4/4 at a walking 80 BPM, 6:03 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

Under 90 BPM
TEMPO
80 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
121
LENGTH
6:03
DIFFICULTY
68/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 21% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 15-17, 19-21 and 23-25, and 5 more places -- 21.3% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 80 BPM
SERPENT ON THE CROSS · BAR 15
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

21 fills to learn, played 31 times: bars 13, 14, 18, 22, 26, 29 and 25 more.

LOOP · 80 BPM
BARS 13-14 · LANDS ON BAR 15 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 80 BPM
BAR 18 · LANDS ON BAR 19 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 80 BPM
BAR 22 · LANDS ON BAR 23
LOOP · 80 BPM
BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27

17 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

121 bars across 13 sections: 60 keep time, 31 are fills, 4 are stops and 13 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 87-92.

COUNT-IN
CHORUS
PART L
PART T
PART L
PART T
PART AD
PART AJ
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
9 groovesDLTS1AD+4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Serpent on the cross?

80 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 Serpent on the cross hard to play on drums?

68 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 30 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

121 bars, about 6:03 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 51 exercises over 13 sittings, about 28 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, 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 Serpent on the cross?

21 fills to learn, played 31 times: bars 13, 14, 18, 22, 26, 29 and 25 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 121 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Paradise Lost drum parts

EVERY PARADISE LOST CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →