Livin' On A Prayer · Bon Jovi

108 bars of 4/4 at 123 BPM, about 3:31 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick.

120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
123 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
108
LENGTH
3:31
DIFFICULTY
42/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 36% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 37-44, 71-78 and 81-82, and 4 more places -- 36.2% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 123 BPM
LIVIN' ON A PRAYER · BAR 37
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

6 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 3, 4, 12, 28, 36, 46 and 6 more.

LOOP · 123 BPM
BARS 3-4 · LANDS ON BAR 5 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 123 BPM
BAR 12 · LANDS ON BAR 13
LOOP · 123 BPM
BAR 28 · LANDS ON BAR 29 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 123 BPM
BAR 36 · LANDS ON BAR 37 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

2 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

108 bars across 10 sections: 65 keep time, 12 are fills, 22 are stops and 3 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 13-27.

PART D
PART H
CHORUS
PART D
PART H
CHORUS 2
OUTRO
6 groovesJDHS1S2+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Livin' On A Prayer?

123 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 Livin' On A Prayer 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 19 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

108 bars, about 3:31 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 22 exercises over 6 sittings, about 24 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, 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 Livin' On A Prayer?

6 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 3, 4, 12, 28, 36, 46 and 6 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 108 BARS ANALYSED
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