Bittersweet Symphony · Richard Ashcroft

114 bars, 6:20, at 72 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

Under 90 BPMBeginner
TEMPO
72 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
114
LENGTH
6:20
DIFFICULTY
33/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 48% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 3, 5-7 and 25, and 8 more places -- 48.2% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 72 BPM
BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY · BAR 3
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 60, 61, 87, 109 and 112.

LOOP · 72 BPM
BARS 60-61 · LANDS ON BAR 62 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 87 · LANDS ON BAR 88
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 109 · LANDS ON BAR 110
LOOP · 72 BPM
BAR 112 · LANDS ON BAR 113
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

114 bars across 5 sections: 79 keep time, 6 are fills, 25 are stops and 2 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 34-58.

OUTRO
OUTRO 2
4 groovesBAS1S3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Bittersweet Symphony?

72 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is Bittersweet Symphony hard to play on drums?

33 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 9 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

114 bars, about 6:20 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 13 exercises over 4 sittings, about 24 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor 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 Bittersweet Symphony?

4 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 60, 61, 87, 109 and 112.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 114 BARS ANALYSED
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