Smoke And Mirrors · Symphony X

186 bars of 4/4 at 130 BPM, about 5:44 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

MetalProgressive120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
130 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
186
LENGTH
5:44
DIFFICULTY
89/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 20% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 18-24, 61-67 and 69-71, and 3 more places -- 20.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 130 BPM
SMOKE AND MIRRORS · BAR 19
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

20 fills to learn, played 52 times: bars 8, 9, 11, 15, 17, 25 and 46 more.

LOOP · 130 BPM
BARS 8-9 · LANDS ON BAR 10 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 130 BPM
BAR 11 · LANDS ON BAR 12 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 130 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 130 BPM
BAR 25 · LANDS ON BAR 26 · PLAYED 6 TIMES

16 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

186 bars across 14 sections: 100 keep time, 52 are fills and 21 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 18-24.

CHORUS
PART P
PART T
CHORUS 2
PART P
PART T
CHORUS 3
PART AC
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
8 groovesJPACTAR+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Smoke And Mirrors?

130 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 Smoke And Mirrors hard to play on drums?

89 out of 100. Hard, and what makes it hard is the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 85 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

186 bars, about 5:44 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 57 exercises over 17 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, 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 Smoke And Mirrors?

20 fills to learn, played 52 times: bars 8, 9, 11, 15, 17, 25 and 46 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 186 BARS ANALYSED
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