Cortez The Killer · Dave Matthews Band

288 bars of 4/4 at 115 BPM, about 10:01 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Alternative / IndieRock90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
115 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
288
LENGTH
10:01
DIFFICULTY
43/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 21% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 17, 19 and 21, and 45 more places -- 20.5% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 115 BPM
CORTEZ THE KILLER · BAR 19
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

14 fills to learn, played 32 times: bars 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 72 and 26 more.

LOOP · 115 BPM
BAR 16 · LANDS ON BAR 17 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 115 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 115 BPM
BAR 40 · LANDS ON BAR 41
LOOP · 115 BPM
BAR 72 · LANDS ON BAR 73 · PLAYED 4 TIMES

10 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

288 bars across 19 sections: 181 keep time, 32 are fills, 38 are stops and 15 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 261-288.

COUNT-IN
PART C
PART D
PART H
CHORUS
PART H
CHORUS 4
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
10 groovesNDCHAJ+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Cortez The Killer?

115 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 Cortez The Killer hard to play on drums?

43 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 17 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

288 bars, about 10:01 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 54 exercises over 13 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, 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 Cortez The Killer?

14 fills to learn, played 32 times: bars 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 72 and 26 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 288 BARS ANALYSED
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