ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play 1st Song on drums

132 bars of 4/4 at a walking 90 BPM, 5:51 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

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

TEMPO: 90 BPM
TIME: 4/4
BARS: 132
LENGTH: 5:51
DIFFICULTY: 77/100

kick and crashes through bars 1-4, ride through bars 5-27, snare through bars 28-75, ride through bars 76-85, snare through bars 86-95 and toms through bars 96-97, and 4 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 15-23, 76-84 and 98-106 -- 20.5% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    15                                               16
    1...........2...........3...........4........... 1...........2...........3...........4...........
CC |x--------x-----x-----x--x--------x-----x-----x--|x--------x-----x-----x--x--------x-----x-----x--|
RD |---------------------------------------x--------|---------------------------------------x--------|
SD |---------x-----------------------x--------------|---------x-----x--------------------------------|
BD |x--x--x--x-----x--x--x--x--x--x--x-----x--x--x--|x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--|

1st Song -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

7 fills to learn, played 10 times: bars 10, 13, 14, 63, 69, 85 and 4 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 46 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.

The grooves the song is built on -- I -- 1 exercise, about 18 minutes.
The grooves the song is built on -- M -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes.
The grooves the song is built on -- R -- 2 exercises, about 29 minutes.
Through Part A and Part C -- 3 exercises, about 22 minutes.
Through Part C -- 4 exercises, about 27 minutes. Open above.
Through Part C and the Chorus -- 5 exercises, about 21 minutes.
Through the Chorus and Part M -- 4 exercises, about 34 minutes.
Through Part M and Part N -- 3 exercises, about 20 minutes.
and 6 more sittings after that.

START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is 1st Song?

90 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 1st Song hard to play on drums?

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

How long is the drum part?

132 bars, about 5:51 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 46 exercises over 14 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 1st Song?

7 fills to learn, played 10 times: bars 10, 13, 14, 63, 69, 85 and 4 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 132 BARS ANALYSED