Sudden Death · Megadeth

181 bars, 10:01, at 72 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

MetalRockUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
72 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
181
LENGTH
10:01
DIFFICULTY
66/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 25% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 98-104, 106-112 and 114-120, and 3 more places -- 24.6% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 72 BPM
SUDDEN DEATH · BAR 99
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

9 fills to learn, played 19 times: bars 3, 5, 7, 9, 53, 60 and 13 more.

LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 3 · LANDS ON BAR 4 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 9 · LANDS ON BAR 10
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 53 · LANDS ON BAR 54 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

5 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

181 bars across 16 sections: 132 keep time, 19 are fills, 6 are stops and 10 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 147-159.

PART I
PART J
PART P
PART I
PART J
PART U
CHORUS
PART AA
OUTRO 2
12 groovesXIPJN+7Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Sudden Death?

72 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 Sudden Death hard to play on drums?

66 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 50 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

181 bars, about 10:01 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 49 exercises over 15 sittings, about 26 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 Sudden Death?

9 fills to learn, played 19 times: bars 3, 5, 7, 9, 53, 60 and 13 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 181 BARS ANALYSED
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