Desert Song · Michael Schenker Group

178 bars of 4/4 at 124 BPM, about 5:45 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

MetalRock120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
124 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
178
LENGTH
5:45
DIFFICULTY
45/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 38% of the song

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 50-56, 74-80 and 99-105, and 1 more place -- 37.5% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 124 BPM
DESERT SONG · BARS 50-51
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

2 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 37, 45, 61, 69, 82 and 135.

LOOP · 124 BPM
BAR 37 · LANDS ON BAR 38 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 124 BPM
BAR 82 · LANDS ON BAR 83
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

178 bars across 23 sections: 129 keep time, 7 are fills, 9 are stops and 18 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 141-178.

PART D
PART E
PART E
PART N
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
15 groovesIEAND+10Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Desert Song?

124 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 Desert Song hard to play on drums?

45 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 33 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

178 bars, about 5:45 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 27 exercises over 7 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, 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 Desert Song?

2 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 37, 45, 61, 69, 82 and 135.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 178 BARS ANALYSED
AT THIS LEVEL

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