Judas Priest · 1990 · drums by Scott Travis
Painkiller
From Painkiller. Expert · Straight · metal
Tempo
206BPM
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Feel
- Straight
- Tempo band
- 150+
- Difficulty
- Expert
The quarter-note pulse the double kick runs at. Databases that list 103 are counting it in half time.
"Work up to it" opens the tempo trainer at 176 and climbs to 206 in steps of four every eight bars. Members get the climb; everyone gets the click.
What the drums do
The drum intro that changed what a metal drummer had to be able to do: a double-kick fanfare round the toms, then six minutes at full sprint with sixteenth notes on two bass drums under the riff. Travis wrote the intro as a warm-up while the engineers set up the mics.
Expert: Years of work. Play it at half speed and be proud.
Scott Travis
- Read the Scott Travis feature →Who they are, how they play, and what to listen to next.
- Scott Travis's drum rig in the Rig Vault →The kit, snare, cymbals and hardware, era by era — look for the 1990 setup.
- Log the sessionNote the BPM you got it clean at, and next time starts from there.