(Don't Fear) The Reaper · Blue Öyster Cult

182 bars of 4/4 at 142 BPM, about 5:08 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

RockProgressive120 to 149 BPMBeginner
TEMPO
142 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
182
LENGTH
5:08
DIFFICULTY
74/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 25% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 9-10, 21-28 and 30-32, and 10 more places -- 24.9% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 142 BPM
(DON'T FEAR) THE REAPER · BAR 10
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

11 fills to learn, played 23 times: bars 4, 8, 16, 29, 33, 37 and 17 more.

LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 4 · LANDS ON BAR 5 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 8 · LANDS ON BAR 9 · PLAYED 7 TIMES
LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 16 · LANDS ON BAR 17
LOOP · 142 BPM
BAR 29 · LANDS ON BAR 30

7 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

182 bars across 18 sections: 127 keep time, 23 are fills, 2 are stops and 13 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 158-182.

PART D
CHORUS
CHORUS 2
PART H
CHORUS 3
PART S9
PART D
PART H
OUTRO 2
12 groovesFDAIHS9+7Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is (Don't Fear) The Reaper?

142 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 (Don't Fear) The Reaper hard to play on drums?

74 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 46 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

182 bars, about 5:08 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 50 exercises over 15 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid 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 (Don't Fear) The Reaper?

11 fills to learn, played 23 times: bars 4, 8, 16, 29, 33, 37 and 17 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 182 BARS ANALYSED
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