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Astronomy · Blue Öyster Cult

EXERCISE 6 OF 67
Groove A
43 / 142 BARS COVERED
0 / 67 PASSED · 3 BARS LIT · IN THE PART B
PART B
PART E
PART J
CHORUS
PART E
CHORUS 2
PART AL
OUTRO 2
12 groovesPEBJAQ+7Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 14
FILL · 12
LAND · 12
RUN · 5
JOIN · 12
LINK · 2
SECTION · 9
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Astronomy on drums

142 bars of 4/4 at a walking 87 BPM, 6:17 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

59 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet.

TEMPO
87 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
142
LENGTH
6:17
DIFFICULTY
59/100

hi-hat through bars 1-42, kick and crashes through bars 43-49, ride through bars 50-51, hi-hat through bars 52-73, ride through bars 74-75 and hi-hat through bars 76-90, and 7 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 52-54, 56-58 and 60-66, and 2 more places -- 15% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    52
    1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a
CC |x---------------|
HH |--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
SD |----x-------x---|
BD |x--x--x---xx----|
Astronomy -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

12 fills to learn, played 23 times: bars 42, 50, 55, 59, 67, 71 and 17 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 54 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 -- P -- 3 exercises, about 20 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- C, E -- 2 exercises, about 30 minutes.
  3. Through Part B -- 1 exercise, about 15 minutes. Open above.
  4. Through Part B -- 2 exercises, about 23 minutes.
  5. Through Part B -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes.
  6. Through Part B -- 2 exercises, about 30 minutes.
  7. Bars 1-36 -- 6 exercises, about 28 minutes.
  8. Through Part G and Part J -- 4 exercises, about 22 minutes.
  9. and 10 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Astronomy?

87 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 Astronomy hard to play on drums?

59 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 44 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

142 bars, about 6:17 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 54 exercises over 18 sittings, about 24 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Astronomy?

12 fills to learn, played 23 times: bars 42, 50, 55, 59, 67, 71 and 17 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 142 BARS ANALYSED