DRUMY
The Shortest Straw drums: tempo, difficulty and parts
The Shortest Straw by Metallica is 140 BPM and runs 6:35: 242 bars and 3,878 notes played on the kick, hi-hat, snare, crash, floor tom, tom 1 and tom 2.
The drum part is rated Hard — a real workout, so start it at half speed and bring it up.
It has 8 fills, its longest section is the Guitar Solo 1 (0:43) and the hi-hat opens as well as closes.
Song map
- Intro A
- Intro B
- Main Riff
- Verse 1
- Main Riff
- Pre-Chorus Riff
- Chorus
- Main Riff
- Verse 2
- Main Riff
- Pre-Chorus Riff
- Chorus 2
- Main Riff
- Pre-Solo
- Guitar Solo 1
- Chorus
- Guitar Solo 2
- Verse 3
- Main Riff
- Pre-Chorus
- Chorus 4
- Outro
How to play The Shortest Straw on drums
- Plug in your electronic drum kit over USB — or play on the keyboard.
- Press play. The notes of The Shortest Straw come down in time with the recording. Play it in Beatfall or read it as drum notation.
- Slow it down. Take the Fill into Pre-Chorus Riff at 0.5× or 0.75× with a click and a count-in, then bring it up to 140 BPM.
- Check every hit — on time, early or late — before you record your The Shortest Straw drum cover.
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Guides
- How to connect an electronic drum kit to your computer
- How to play along to songs on electronic drums
- Why your electronic drums feel late — and how to fix it