The Best of Times · Dream Theater

274 bars, 17:21, at 70 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

ProgressiveMetalUnder 90 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
70 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
274
LENGTH
17:21
DIFFICULTY
61/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 30% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 165-166, 168-169 and 176-178, and 6 more places -- 30.2% of every bar the kit plays. That is the spine of it; everything else is what happens around it.

LOOP · 70 BPM
THE BEST OF TIMES · BAR 165
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

22 fills to learn, played 61 times: bars 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64 and 55 more.

LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 54 · LANDS ON BAR 55 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 56 · LANDS ON BAR 57
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 58 · LANDS ON BAR 59
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 62 · LANDS ON BAR 63

18 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

274 bars across 18 sections: 118 keep time, 61 are fills, 4 are stops and 85 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 202-244.

BREAK
PART V
PART AN
PART AU
OUTRO
BREAK 5
15 groovesBKS2S18VAU+10Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Best of Times?

70 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 The Best of Times hard to play on drums?

61 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 36 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

274 bars, about 17:21 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 62 exercises over 19 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, 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 The Best of Times?

22 fills to learn, played 61 times: bars 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64 and 55 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 274 BARS ANALYSED
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