ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Hitchhiker on drums

114 bars of 4/4 at 130 BPM, about 3:30 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

78 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how many notes a second it asks for.

TEMPO: 130 BPM
TIME: 4/4
BARS: 114
LENGTH: 3:30
DIFFICULTY: 78/100

hi-hat through bars 1-5, ride through bars 6-12, hi-hat through bars 13-16, snare through bars 17-24, ride through bars 25-36 and hi-hat through bars 37-40, and 11 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 7-9, 25 and 27, and 4 more places -- 11.5% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    7                                                                8
    1...............2...............3...............4............... 1...............2...............3...............4...............
CC |X---------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
RD |----------------X---------------X---------------X---------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
SD |--------------------------------X-------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
T1 |----------------------------------------------------------------|X-X-X-X-X-X-----X-X-X-X-X-X-------------------------------------|
T2 |----------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------X-X-X-X-X-X---------------------|
FT |----------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------X-X-X-X-X-X-----|
BD |X---------------X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|----------------------------------------------------------------|

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

The fills

12 fills to learn, played 39 times: bars 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 33 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 42 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 -- E -- 3 exercises, about 23 minutes. Open above.
The grooves the song is built on -- A -- 5 exercises, about 30 minutes.
The grooves the song is built on -- N -- 5 exercises, about 26 minutes.
Through the Chorus -- 1 exercise, about 19 minutes.
Through the Chorus -- 2 exercises, about 23 minutes.
Through the Chorus -- 1 exercise, about 20 minutes.
Through the Chorus -- 3 exercises, about 27 minutes.
Through the Chorus and Part N -- 5 exercises, about 22 minutes.
and 7 more sittings after that.

START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Hitchhiker?

130 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 Hitchhiker hard to play on drums?

78 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how many notes a second it asks for. The beat itself is 56 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

114 bars, about 3:30 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 42 exercises over 15 sittings, about 24 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 Hitchhiker?

12 fills to learn, played 39 times: bars 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 33 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 114 BARS ANALYSED