If I Were a Boy · Beyonce Knowles

90 bars of 4/4 at a walking 90 BPM, 3:59 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

Funk / SoulPop90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
90 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
90
LENGTH
3:59
DIFFICULTY
31/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 62% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 18-24, 26-32 and 50-56, and 3 more places -- 61.6% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 90 BPM
IF I WERE A BOY · BAR 19
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 7 times: bars 9, 17, 25, 49, 57, 78 and 1 more.

LOOP · 90 BPM
BAR 9 · LANDS ON BAR 10
LOOP · 90 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18
LOOP · 90 BPM
BAR 25 · LANDS ON BAR 26 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

90 bars across 9 sections: 60 keep time, 7 are fills, 3 are stops and 17 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 58-71.

COUNT-IN
PART C
CHORUS
PART S4
PART C
CHORUS 2
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
6 groovesFCS1S8S4+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is If I Were a Boy?

90 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 If I Were a Boy hard to play on drums?

31 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- with the independence between the hands and the feet the part that decides it. The beat itself is 15 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

90 bars, about 3:59 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 15 exercises over 4 sittings, about 23 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, 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 If I Were a Boy?

3 fills to learn, played 7 times: bars 9, 17, 25, 49, 57, 78 and 1 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 90 BARS ANALYSED
AT THIS LEVEL

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