ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Heads Will Hang on drums

95 bars of 4/4 at a walking 90 BPM, 4:12 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

78 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat.

TEMPO: 90 BPM
TIME: 4/4
BARS: 95
LENGTH: 4:12
DIFFICULTY: 78/100

snare through bars 1-4, ride through bars 5-12, hi-hat through bars 13-28, ride through bars 29-40, hi-hat through bars 41-74 and silence through bars 75-86, and 2 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 17-19, 21-23 and 41-43, and 1 more place -- 13.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    17                                                               18
    1...............2...............3...............4............... 1...............2...............3...............4...............
CC |x-------x---------------x---------------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x---------------x---------------x---x---|
HH |----o-----------o-----------o---o---o-------o---o-----------o---|o---o-----------o---o-------o---o---o-----------o---o-----------|
SD |----------------x-------------------------------x---------------|----------------x-------------------------------x---------------|
BD |x-----------x---x-----------x---------------x---x-----------x---|x-----------x---x-----------x---x-----------x---x-----------x---|

Heads Will Hang -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

13 fills to learn, played 31 times: bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12 and 25 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 45 exercises -- the grooves, the fills, and the joins between sections, which is where players actually come off -- and puts them in the order a teacher would. Each one opens on a reduction you can already play and adds the notes back a rung at a time, with a tempo to reach and a gate to pass before the next.

The grooves the song is built on -- L -- 3 exercises, about 25 minutes.
Through the Chorus -- 5 exercises, about 22 minutes.
The grooves the song is built on -- D -- 3 exercises, about 27 minutes.
The grooves the song is built on -- W -- 1 exercise, about 17 minutes. Open above.
Bars 9-41 -- 4 exercises, about 37 minutes.
Through Part D and Part F -- 4 exercises, about 18 minutes.
Bars 5-13 -- 4 exercises, about 33 minutes.
Bars 11-29 -- 7 exercises, about 29 minutes.
and 6 more sittings after that.

START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Heads Will Hang?

90 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second 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 Heads Will Hang hard to play on drums?

78 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 73 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

95 bars, about 4:12 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 45 exercises over 14 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 Heads Will Hang?

13 fills to learn, played 31 times: bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12 and 25 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 95 BARS ANALYSED