I Can’t Play the Blues · Bumblefoot

97 bars of 4/4 at 118 BPM, about 3:16 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

ProgressiveRock90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
118 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
97
LENGTH
3:16
DIFFICULTY
70/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 77% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 4-22, 24-26 and 28-40, and 7 more places -- 77.3% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 118 BPM
I CAN’T PLAY THE BLUES · BAR 4
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

2 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 74, 75, 94, 95 and 96.

LOOP · 118 BPM
BARS 74-75 · LANDS ON BAR 76 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 118 BPM
BARS 94-96 · LANDS ON BAR 97 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

97 bars across 3 sections: 88 keep time, 5 are fills and 1 is a stop. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 1-42.

CHORUS
OUTRO 2
2 groovesDHFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is I Can’t Play the Blues?

118 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 I Can’t Play the Blues hard to play on drums?

70 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 50 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

97 bars, about 3:16 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 11 exercises over 5 sittings, about 23 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, 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 I Can’t Play the Blues?

2 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 74, 75, 94, 95 and 96.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 97 BARS ANALYSED
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