Midnight Special · Creedence Clearwater Revival

114 bars of 4/4 at a walking 102 BPM, 4:28 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

RockCountry / Folk90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
102 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
114
LENGTH
4:28
DIFFICULTY
38/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 71% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 15-18, 20 and 23-26, and 13 more places -- 70.5% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 102 BPM
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL · BAR 16
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

8 fills to learn, played 14 times: bars 14, 19, 22, 27, 30, 40 and 8 more.

LOOP · 102 BPM
BAR 14 · LANDS ON BAR 15 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 102 BPM
BAR 19 · LANDS ON BAR 20 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 102 BPM
BAR 30 · LANDS ON BAR 31 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 102 BPM
BAR 40 · LANDS ON BAR 41 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

4 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

114 bars across 8 sections: 77 keep time, 14 are fills, 1 is a stop and 19 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 31-39.

BREAK 2
CHORUS
PART S5
CHORUS 2
7 groovesDS3S5S7S1+2Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Midnight Special?

102 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 Midnight Special hard to play on drums?

38 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 34 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

114 bars, about 4:28 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 16 exercises over 4 sittings, about 25 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 Midnight Special?

8 fills to learn, played 14 times: bars 14, 19, 22, 27, 30, 40 and 8 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 114 BARS ANALYSED
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