Soma · Smashing Pumpkins

112 bars, 6:35, at 68 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

Alternative / IndieRockUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
68 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
112
LENGTH
6:35
DIFFICULTY
64/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 20% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 9, 11 and 13, and 17 more places -- 19.6% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 68 BPM
SOMA · BAR 9
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

7 fills to learn, played 15 times: bars 56, 66, 74, 76, 78, 80 and 9 more.

LOOP · 68 BPM
BAR 56 · LANDS ON BAR 57
LOOP · 68 BPM
BAR 66 · LANDS ON BAR 67
LOOP · 68 BPM
BAR 74 · LANDS ON BAR 75 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 68 BPM
BAR 76 · LANDS ON BAR 77 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

3 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

112 bars across 8 sections: 76 keep time, 15 are fills, 2 are stops and 10 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 9-35.

COUNT-IN
CHORUS
PART C
PART F
PART J
PART O
OUTRO 2
7 groovesBJCFO+2Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Soma?

68 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 Soma hard to play on drums?

64 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 57 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

112 bars, about 6:35 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 34 exercises over 13 sittings, about 24 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Soma?

7 fills to learn, played 15 times: bars 56, 66, 74, 76, 78, 80 and 9 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 112 BARS ANALYSED
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