Big Yellow Taxi · Counting Crows

83 bars of 4/4 at a walking 88 BPM, 3:43 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Alternative / IndiePopUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
88 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
83
LENGTH
3:43
DIFFICULTY
52/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 39% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 5-7, 11-14 and 16, and 17 more places -- 39% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 88 BPM
BIG YELLOW TAXI · BAR 14
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

1 fill to learn, played 1 time: bar 41.

LOOP · 88 BPM
BAR 41 · LANDS ON BAR 42
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

83 bars across 8 sections: 67 keep time, 1 is a fill, 2 are stops and 6 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 56-78.

CHORUS
PART D
PART S5
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
5 groovesCDS5KS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Big Yellow Taxi?

88 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 Big Yellow Taxi hard to play on drums?

52 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 33 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

83 bars, about 3:43 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 17 exercises over 5 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, 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 Big Yellow Taxi?

1 fill to learn, played 1 time: bar 41.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 83 BARS ANALYSED
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