Message In A Bottle · The Police

185 bars of 4/4 at 151 BPM, about 4:54 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

RockPop150 BPM and upIntermediate
TEMPO
151 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
185
LENGTH
4:54
DIFFICULTY
71/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 16% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 143, 145-146 and 149-154, and 6 more places -- 15.7% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 151 BPM
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE · BAR 143
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

6 fills to learn, played 10 times: bars 20, 24, 27, 28, 90, 98 and 4 more.

LOOP · 151 BPM
BAR 20 · LANDS ON BAR 21 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 151 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25
LOOP · 151 BPM
BARS 27-28 · LANDS ON BAR 29 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 151 BPM
BAR 98 · LANDS ON BAR 99

2 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

185 bars across 14 sections: 153 keep time, 10 are fills and 1 is a stop. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 143-183.

PART D
PART H
PART P
PART F
PART K
PART Z
PART AF
PART K
OUTRO 2
12 groovesBBKPFD+7Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Message In A Bottle?

151 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 Message In A Bottle hard to play on drums?

71 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 55 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

185 bars, about 4:54 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 65 exercises over 25 sittings, about 24 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Message In A Bottle?

6 fills to learn, played 10 times: bars 20, 24, 27, 28, 90, 98 and 4 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 185 BARS ANALYSED
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