Dirty Work · Steely Dan

60 bars, 3:06, at 74 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick and nothing else.

Jazz / BluesRockUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
74 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
60
LENGTH
3:06
DIFFICULTY
36/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 82% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 1-10, 12-15 and 18-27, and 6 more places -- 81.7% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 74 BPM
DIRTY WORK · BAR 1
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 7 times: bars 17, 34, 48, 51, 52, 54 and 1 more.

LOOP · 74 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 74 BPM
BARS 51-52 · LANDS ON BAR 53 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 74 BPM
BAR 54 · LANDS ON BAR 55
LOOP · 74 BPM
BAR 56 · LANDS ON BAR 57
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

60 bars: 53 keep time and 7 are fills. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 1-16.

OUTRO
1 grooveAFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Dirty Work?

74 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 Dirty Work hard to play on drums?

36 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 20 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

60 bars, about 3:06 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 8 exercises over 2 sittings, about 30 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

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

How many fills are in Dirty Work?

4 fills to learn, played 7 times: bars 17, 34, 48, 51, 52, 54 and 1 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 60 BARS ANALYSED
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