← SONGS

The Court Of The Crimson King · King Crimson

The Court Of The Crimson King · King Crimson
PERFORM →
EXERCISE 1 OF 65
Groove C -- Chorus (a two-bar phrase)
0 / 169 BARS COVERED
0 / 65 PASSED · 31 BARS LIT
CHORUS
PART F
PART N
CHORUS 2
PART N
PART AI
CHORUS 3
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
10 groovesCNAIS13F+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 10
FILL · 19
LAND · 19
RUN · 3
JOIN · 6
LINK · 3
SECTION · 4
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play The Court Of The Crimson King on drums

169 bars, 9:49, at 68 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

70 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat.

TEMPO
68 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
169
LENGTH
9:49
DIFFICULTY
70/100

toms through bar 1, ride through bars 2-9, silence through bars 10-17, ride through bars 18-26, hi-hat through bars 27-33 and ride through bars 34-60, and 9 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 3-4, 7 and 19-20, and 15 more places -- 23.3% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    3                                                4
    1...........2...........3...........4........... 1...........2...........3...........4...........
CC |------------x-----------------------------------|------x-----------------------------------------|
RD |x-----x-----------x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----|x-----------x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----|
SD |x-----------x-----------x--------x--------x-----|x--------------x--------x-----------x-----------|
BD |---x--x--x--------x--x-----x--x-----x--x--------|---x--x-----x-----x--x-----x--x-----------------|
The Court Of The Crimson King -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

19 fills to learn, played 32 times: bars 1, 5, 17, 21, 33, 37 and 26 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 45 exercises -- the grooves, the fills, and the joins between sections, which is where players actually come off -- and puts them in the order a teacher would. Each one opens on a reduction you can already play and adds the notes back a rung at a time, with a tempo to reach and a gate to pass before the next.

  1. The grooves the song is built on -- C -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes. Open above.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- N, B -- 2 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  3. Bars 1-18 -- 5 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  4. Bars 5-22 -- 4 exercises, about 13 minutes.
  5. Through the Chorus and Part S2 -- 3 exercises, about 28 minutes.
  6. Through Part F and Part N -- 4 exercises, about 32 minutes.
  7. Through Part N and the Chorus 2 -- 6 exercises, about 22 minutes.
  8. Through the Chorus 2 -- 2 exercises, about 17 minutes.
  9. and 7 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is The Court Of The Crimson King?

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 The Court Of The Crimson King hard to play on drums?

70 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 68 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

169 bars, about 9:49 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 45 exercises over 15 sittings, about 25 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 Court Of The Crimson King?

19 fills to learn, played 32 times: bars 1, 5, 17, 21, 33, 37 and 26 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 169 BARS ANALYSED