Balaclava · Arctic Monkeys

98 bars of 4/4 at 138 BPM, about 2:50 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Alternative / IndieRock120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
138 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
98
LENGTH
2:50
DIFFICULTY
64/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 21% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 79-89 and 91-97 -- 21.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 138 BPM
BALACLAVA · BAR 80
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

6 fills to learn, played 17 times: bars 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 31 and 11 more.

LOOP · 138 BPM
BAR 16 · LANDS ON BAR 17 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BARS 19-20 · LANDS ON BAR 21 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BARS 22-23 · LANDS ON BAR 24 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BARS 31-32 · LANDS ON BAR 33 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

2 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

98 bars across 12 sections: 58 keep time, 17 are fills, 1 is a stop and 14 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 80-98.

COUNT-IN
CHORUS
PART E
CHORUS 2
PART S6
PART K
PART A
CHORUS 3
PART B
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
10 groovesCOAEK+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Balaclava?

138 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 Balaclava hard to play on drums?

64 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 15 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

98 bars, about 2:50 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 29 exercises over 10 sittings, about 23 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high 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 Balaclava?

6 fills to learn, played 17 times: bars 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 31 and 11 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 98 BARS ANALYSED
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