Like a Rolling Stone · Bob Dylan

142 bars of 4/4 at a walking 96 BPM, 5:53 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

Country / FolkJazz / Blues90 to 119 BPMBeginner
TEMPO
96 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
142
LENGTH
5:53
DIFFICULTY
42/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 53% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 2-4, 14-16 and 18-20, and 24 more places -- 52.8% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 96 BPM
LIKE A ROLLING STONE · BAR 3
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

1 fill to learn, played 5 times: bars 38, 73, 93, 108 and 128.

LOOP · 96 BPM
BAR 38 · LANDS ON BAR 39 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

142 bars across 9 sections: 123 keep time and 6 are fills. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 48-72.

PART D
CHORUS 2
PART D
CHORUS 3
PART D
CHORUS 4
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
2 groovesBDFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Like a Rolling Stone?

96 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 Like a Rolling Stone hard to play on drums?

42 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 26 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

142 bars, about 5:53 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 11 exercises over 4 sittings, about 23 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. Nothing in the part asks for anything else.

How many fills are in Like a Rolling Stone?

1 fill to learn, played 5 times: bars 38, 73, 93, 108 and 128.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 142 BARS ANALYSED
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