The Shortest Straw · Metallica

241 bars of 4/4 at 140 BPM, about 6:41 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

MetalRock120 to 149 BPMAdvanced
TEMPO
140 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
241
LENGTH
6:41
DIFFICULTY
89/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 18% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 36, 38-39 and 43-44, and 17 more places -- 18.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 140 BPM
THE SHORTEST STRAW · BAR 38
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

18 fills to learn, played 33 times: bars 23, 24, 25, 26, 41, 57 and 27 more.

LOOP · 140 BPM
BARS 23-26 · LANDS ON BAR 27 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 140 BPM
BAR 41 · LANDS ON BAR 42 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 140 BPM
BAR 57 · LANDS ON BAR 58
LOOP · 140 BPM
BAR 62 · LANDS ON BAR 63 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

14 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

241 bars across 30 sections: 148 keep time, 34 are fills, 20 are stops and 5 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 149-161.

CHORUS
CHORUS 4
PART I
PART E
11 groovesRIUEX+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Shortest Straw?

140 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second 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 Shortest Straw hard to play on drums?

89 out of 100. Hard, and what makes it hard is the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 75 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

241 bars, about 6:41 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 64 exercises over 21 sittings, about 25 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, 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 Shortest Straw?

18 fills to learn, played 33 times: bars 23, 24, 25, 26, 41, 57 and 27 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 241 BARS ANALYSED
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