The Bends · Radiohead

83 bars of 4/4 at a walking 90 BPM, 3:41 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

Alternative / IndieRock90 to 119 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
90 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
83
LENGTH
3:41
DIFFICULTY
47/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 24% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 46-52, 67-73 and 75-77, and 1 more place -- 24.1% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 90 BPM
THE BENDS · BAR 47
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

7 fills to learn, played 14 times: bars 1, 2, 10, 11, 20, 24 and 8 more.

LOOP · 90 BPM
BARS 1-2 · LANDS ON BAR 3 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 90 BPM
BAR 20 · LANDS ON BAR 21 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 90 BPM
BAR 28 · LANDS ON BAR 29
LOOP · 90 BPM
BAR 32 · LANDS ON BAR 33

3 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

83 bars across 10 sections: 54 keep time, 14 are fills and 5 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 68-81.

PART C
PART D
PART J
PART N
CHORUS
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
6 groovesPCNJD+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Bends?

90 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth 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 The Bends hard to play on drums?

47 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in how often it moves around the kit. The beat itself is 29 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

83 bars, about 3:41 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 33 exercises over 8 sittings, about 29 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, 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 The Bends?

7 fills to learn, played 14 times: bars 1, 2, 10, 11, 20, 24 and 8 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 83 BARS ANALYSED
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