American Pie · Madonna

136 bars of 4/4 at 148 BPM, about 3:41 of playing, on hi-hat, snare and kick.

Pop120 to 149 BPMFour drums or fewer
TEMPO
148 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
136
LENGTH
3:41
DIFFICULTY
46/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 85% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 18-111, 123-129 and 131 -- 85% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 148 BPM
AMERICAN PIE · BAR 18
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

1 fill to learn, played 5 times: bars 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136.

LOOP · 148 BPM
BARS 132-136 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

136 bars across 5 sections: 113 keep time, 5 are fills and 16 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 16-111.

COUNT-IN
CHORUS
OUTRO
4 groovesCS1ES4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is American Pie?

148 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 American Pie hard to play on drums?

46 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 38 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

136 bars, about 3:41 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 10 exercises over 4 sittings, about 22 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

hi-hat, snare and kick. Three pieces and no more -- this one is playable on almost anything with a kick, a snare and something to keep time on.

How many fills are in American Pie?

1 fill to learn, played 5 times: bars 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 136 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Madonna drum parts

EVERY MADONNA CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →