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Serpent on the cross · Paradise Lost

EXERCISE 32 OF 73
Run T1 · Part T (bars 47-56)
69 / 121 BARS COVERED
0 / 73 PASSED · 10 BARS LIT · IN THE PART T
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
GROOVE · 6
FILL · 21
LAND · 21
RUN · 3
JOIN · 9
LINK · 5
SECTION · 7
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Serpent on the cross on drums

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.

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

TEMPO
80 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
121
LENGTH
6:03
DIFFICULTY
68/100

silence through bars 1-12, toms through bars 13-14, snare through bars 15-20, toms through bars 21-22, snare through bars 23-34 and hi-hat through bars 35-45, and 5 more changes after that.

The beat

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.

    15
    1...........2...........3...........4...........
CC |x-----------x-----------x-----------x-----------|
SD |------------------------x-----------------------|
BD |x-----------------x-----------------------x-----|
Serpent on the cross -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

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

What the course does

It cuts the song into 51 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 -- 6 exercises, about 28 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- T -- 6 exercises, about 37 minutes.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- L -- 4 exercises, about 33 minutes.
  4. Through the Break and the Chorus -- 8 exercises, about 30 minutes.
  5. Bars 33-57 -- 7 exercises, about 30 minutes.
  6. Through Part T and Part L -- 7 exercises, about 31 minutes. Open above.
  7. Through Part L and Part T -- 4 exercises, about 17 minutes.
  8. Through Part T and Part AD -- 5 exercises, about 31 minutes.
  9. and 5 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

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