The Root of All Evil · Dream Theater

268 bars of 4/4 at 144 BPM, about 7:33 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

ProgressiveMetal120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
144 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
268
LENGTH
7:33
DIFFICULTY
59/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 35% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 36-44, 46 and 48, and 49 more places -- 34.7% of every bar the kit plays. That is the spine of it; everything else is what happens around it.

LOOP · 144 BPM
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL · BAR 44
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

10 fills to learn, played 23 times: bars 59, 67, 71, 83, 91, 99 and 17 more.

LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 59 · LANDS ON BAR 60 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 71 · LANDS ON BAR 72 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 83 · LANDS ON BAR 84 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 144 BPM
BAR 109 · LANDS ON BAR 110 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

6 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

268 bars across 19 sections: 186 keep time, 23 are fills, 5 are stops and 29 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 196-210.

COUNT-IN
CHORUS
PART H
CHORUS 2
PART Q
CHORUS 5
CHORUS 6
PART Q
OUTRO
10 groovesEQHS1S2+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Root of All Evil?

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 Root of All Evil hard to play on drums?

59 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 29 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

268 bars, about 7:33 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 46 exercises over 13 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 Root of All Evil?

10 fills to learn, played 23 times: bars 59, 67, 71, 83, 91, 99 and 17 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 268 BARS ANALYSED
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