California Gurls · Katy Perry

120 bars of 4/4 at 125 BPM, about 3:50 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

Pop120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
125 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
120
LENGTH
3:50
DIFFICULTY
31/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 49% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 37-43, 61-67 and 69-75, and 5 more places -- 48.7% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 125 BPM
CALIFORNIA GURLS · BAR 38
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

120 bars across 7 sections: 107 keep time, 1 is a stop and 7 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 80-120.

PART B
CHORUS
PART B
CHORUS 2
OUTRO
4 groovesDBS1S6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is California Gurls?

125 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 California Gurls hard to play on drums?

31 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 16 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

120 bars, about 3:50 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 12 exercises over 3 sittings, about 29 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. Nothing in the part asks for anything else.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 120 BARS ANALYSED
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