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Aja · Steely Dan

EXERCISE 1 OF 78
Groove J -- Part J
0 / 230 BARS COVERED
0 / 78 PASSED · 28 BARS LIT · IN THE PART J
PART J
PART J
CHORUS
CHORUS 2
PART AO
PART AJ
PART J
OUTRO
10 groovesUJBNG+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 18
FILL · 13
LAND · 13
RUN · 2
JOIN · 14
LINK · 7
SECTION · 10
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Aja on drums

230 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 7:35 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

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

TEMPO
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
230
LENGTH
7:35
DIFFICULTY
70/100

ride through bars 1-18, hi-hat through bars 19-30, ride through bars 31-48, hi-hat through bars 49-60, ride through bars 61-94 and kick and crashes through bars 95-96, and 18 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 19-22, 24-25 and 27-29, and 6 more places -- 12.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    20
    1.......2.......3.......4.......
HH |x---o---x---x---x---o---x---x---|
SD |--------r---------------r-------|
BD |x-----------x---x-----------x---|
Aja -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

13 fills to learn, played 59 times: bars 26, 56, 66, 73, 74, 78 and 53 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 64 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.

  1. The grooves the song is built on -- J, U -- 2 exercises, about 28 minutes. Open above.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- H -- 2 exercises, about 26 minutes.
  3. Through Part B -- 2 exercises, about 23 minutes.
  4. Bars 4-13 -- 3 exercises, about 25 minutes.
  5. Through Part H and Part J -- 2 exercises, about 19 minutes.
  6. Through Part J -- 2 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  7. Through Part J -- 4 exercises, about 26 minutes.
  8. Bars 34-62 -- 5 exercises, about 30 minutes.
  9. and 13 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Aja?

120 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 Aja hard to play on drums?

70 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 51 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

230 bars, about 7:35 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 64 exercises over 21 sittings, about 25 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 Aja?

13 fills to learn, played 59 times: bars 26, 56, 66, 73, 74, 78 and 53 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 230 BARS ANALYSED