I Played the Fool · Michael Stipe

89 bars of 4/4 at 122 BPM, about 2:55 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

120 to 149 BPMShuffle / triplet
TEMPO
122 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
89
LENGTH
2:55
DIFFICULTY
53/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 35% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 10-25, 36-40 and 46-53 -- 35.4% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 122 BPM
I PLAYED THE FOOL · BAR 10
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 4 times: bars 65, 81, 88 and 89.

LOOP · 122 BPM
BAR 65 · LANDS ON BAR 66
LOOP · 122 BPM
BAR 81 · LANDS ON BAR 82
LOOP · 122 BPM
BARS 88-89 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

89 bars across 12 sections: 63 keep time, 4 are fills, 9 are stops and 7 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 9-25.

PART A
CHORUS
PART B
CHORUS 2
CHORUS 3
PART G
PART I
OUTRO
9 groovesCGBIA+4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is I Played the Fool?

122 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 Played the Fool hard to play on drums?

53 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 43 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

89 bars, about 2:55 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 22 exercises over 6 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, 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 Played the Fool?

3 fills to learn, played 4 times: bars 65, 81, 88 and 89.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 89 BARS ANALYSED
AT THIS LEVEL

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