The Bigger Picture · Dream Theater

256 bars of 4/4 at 144 BPM, about 7:23 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

ProgressiveMetal120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
144 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
256
LENGTH
7:23
DIFFICULTY
44/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 14% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 9, 65 and 67, and 19 more places -- 14.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 144 BPM
THE BIGGER PICTURE · BAR 9
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

25 fills to learn, played 47 times: bars 5, 10, 63, 70, 78, 82 and 41 more.

LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 10 · LANDS ON BAR 11
LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 63 · LANDS ON BAR 64
LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 78 · LANDS ON BAR 79

21 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

256 bars across 27 sections: 105 keep time, 47 are fills, 13 are stops and 66 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 72-77.

PART S2
CHORUS
CHORUS 2
PART B
CHORUS 3
PART AZ
20 groovesFS2BBFAZ+15Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Bigger Picture?

144 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 Bigger Picture hard to play on drums?

44 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- with the independence between the hands and the feet the part that decides it. The beat itself is 36 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

256 bars, about 7:23 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 81 exercises over 21 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 The Bigger Picture?

25 fills to learn, played 47 times: bars 5, 10, 63, 70, 78, 82 and 41 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 256 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Dream Theater drum parts

EVERY DREAM THEATER CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →