Ballad Of Big Nothing · Elliott Smith

75 bars of 4/4 at a walking 109 BPM, 2:45 of playing, on crash, snare, mid tom and kick.

Country / FolkAlternative / Indie90 to 119 BPMFour drums or fewer
TEMPO
109 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
75
LENGTH
2:45
DIFFICULTY
36/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 66% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 10-16, 18 and 20, and 16 more places -- 65.7% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 109 BPM
BALLAD OF BIG NOTHING · BAR 10
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 3 times: bars 23, 47 and 65.

LOOP · 109 BPM
BAR 23 · LANDS ON BAR 24
LOOP · 109 BPM
BAR 47 · LANDS ON BAR 48
LOOP · 109 BPM
BAR 65 · LANDS ON BAR 66
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

75 bars across 2 sections: 62 keep time, 3 are fills, 2 are stops and 8 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 24-46.

COUNT-IN
OUTRO
2 groovesCS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Ballad Of Big Nothing?

109 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 Ballad Of Big Nothing 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 28 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

75 bars, about 2:45 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 7 exercises over 2 sittings, about 28 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, snare, mid tom and kick. Nothing in the part asks for anything else.

How many fills are in Ballad Of Big Nothing?

3 fills to learn, played 3 times: bars 23, 47 and 65.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 75 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Elliott Smith drum parts

EVERY ELLIOTT SMITH CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →