Careless Whisper · Wham!

109 bars of 4/4 at a walking 77 BPM, 5:40 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

PopElectronicUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
77 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
109
LENGTH
5:40
DIFFICULTY
66/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 41% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 5-13, 15 and 17-19, and 24 more places -- 41% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 77 BPM
CARELESS WHISPER · BAR 6
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 28, 48, 56, 63, 64 and 68.

LOOP · 77 BPM
BAR 28 · LANDS ON BAR 29 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 77 BPM
BAR 56 · LANDS ON BAR 57
LOOP · 77 BPM
BARS 63-64 · LANDS ON BAR 65 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 77 BPM
BAR 68 · LANDS ON BAR 69
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

109 bars across 7 sections: 90 keep time, 6 are fills, 1 is a stop and 4 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 69-91.

CHORUS
PART F
CHORUS 2
PART F
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
4 groovesBSFS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Careless Whisper?

77 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 Careless Whisper hard to play on drums?

66 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 48 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

109 bars, about 5:40 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 21 exercises over 9 sittings, about 22 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, 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 Careless Whisper?

4 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 28, 48, 56, 63, 64 and 68.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 109 BARS ANALYSED
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