The Fragile · Nine Inch Nails

83 bars, 4:33, at 72 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

ElectronicAlternative / IndieUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
72 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
83
LENGTH
4:33
DIFFICULTY
50/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 39% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 18-20, 22-24 and 34-41, and 1 more place -- 39% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 72 BPM
THE FRAGILE · BAR 18
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

83 bars across 9 sections: 72 keep time and 6 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 2-17.

PART B
CHORUS
PART B
CHORUS 2
BREAK
PART G
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
6 groovesCBGIS6+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Fragile?

72 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth 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 Fragile hard to play on drums?

50 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 24 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

83 bars, about 4:33 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 19 exercises over 5 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

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.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 83 BARS ANALYSED
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