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These Walls · Dream Theater

EXERCISE 12 OF 94
Groove K -- Part K
87 / 211 BARS COVERED
0 / 94 PASSED · 3 BARS LIT · IN THE PART K, PART AQ
CHORUS
PART K
PART U
CHORUS 2
PART K
PART AI
CHORUS 3
PART AQ
CHORUS 4
PART AF
OUTRO 2
11 groovesFAQKAIAB+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 17
FILL · 23
LAND · 23
RUN · 1
JOIN · 13
LINK · 7
SECTION · 9
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play These Walls on drums

211 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 55 BPM, 11:29 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

71 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet.

TEMPO
55 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
211
LENGTH
11:29
DIFFICULTY
71/100

silence through bars 1-11, snare through bars 12-23, hi-hat through bars 24-27, ride through bars 28-33, hi-hat through bars 34-35 and ride through bars 36-51, and 22 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 12-14, 16-18 and 20-22, and 19 more places -- 22.9% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    12
    1.......2.......3.......
CC |x---x---x---x---x---x---|
SD |------------x-----------|
BD |x-----x---x-------xxx---|
These Walls -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

23 fills to learn, played 79 times: bars 15, 19, 23, 28, 29, 30 and 73 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 70 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 -- F -- 4 exercises, about 26 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- AQ -- 1 exercise, about 15 minutes.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- AI -- 5 exercises, about 30 minutes.
  4. Through the Chorus -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes.
  5. Through the Chorus and Part K -- 2 exercises, about 21 minutes. Open above.
  6. Through Part K -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes.
  7. Through Part K -- 1 exercise, about 18 minutes.
  8. Through Part K -- 1 exercise, about 18 minutes.
  9. and 18 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is These Walls?

55 BPM, in 3/4, 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 These Walls hard to play on drums?

71 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 48 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

211 bars, about 11:29 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 70 exercises over 26 sittings, about 24 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 These Walls?

23 fills to learn, played 79 times: bars 15, 19, 23, 28, 29, 30 and 73 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 211 BARS ANALYSED