3am · Matchbox 20

99 bars of 4/4 at a walking 108 BPM, 3:40 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
108 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
99
LENGTH
3:40
DIFFICULTY
45/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 10% of the song

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 34-37, 40-41 and 44-45, and 1 more place -- 10.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 108 BPM
3AM · BARS 36-37
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 4 times: bars 30, 31, 65 and 99.

LOOP · 108 BPM
BARS 30-31 · LANDS ON BAR 32 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 108 BPM
BAR 65 · LANDS ON BAR 66
LOOP · 108 BPM
BAR 99
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

99 bars across 11 sections: 73 keep time, 4 are fills, 3 are stops and 3 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 35-50.

PART B
PART F
PART J
CHORUS
PART I
PART S
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
11 groovesOAEAFJ+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is 3am?

108 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth 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 3am hard to play on drums?

45 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 49 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

99 bars, about 3:40 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 41 exercises over 11 sittings, about 28 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, 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 3am?

3 fills to learn, played 4 times: bars 30, 31, 65 and 99.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 99 BARS ANALYSED
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