99 Red Balloons · Nena

111 bars, 6:08, at 72 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, hi-hat, snare, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

ElectronicPopUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
72 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
111
LENGTH
6:08
DIFFICULTY
36/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 42% of the song

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 27-41, 51-57 and 59-64, and 2 more places -- 42.2% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 72 BPM
99 RED BALLOONS · BARS 27-28
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 26, 42, 78, 102 and 106.

LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 42 · LANDS ON BAR 43 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 106 · LANDS ON BAR 107
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

111 bars across 11 sections: 84 keep time, 5 are fills, 2 are stops and 9 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 27-41.

COUNT-IN
PART C
CHORUS
PART I
CHORUS 2
PART C
CHORUS 3
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
6 groovesFICDS1+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is 99 Red Balloons?

72 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is 99 Red Balloons hard to play on drums?

36 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- with the independence between the hands and the feet the part that decides it. The beat itself is 24 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

111 bars, about 6:08 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 26 exercises over 7 sittings, about 25 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, 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 99 Red Balloons?

3 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 26, 42, 78, 102 and 106.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 111 BARS ANALYSED
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