On An Island · David Gilmour

144 bars of 3/4 -- not four -- at 62 BPM, 6:47 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

PopRockUnder 90 BPMShuffle / tripletBeginner
TEMPO
62 BPM
TIME
3/4
BARS
144
LENGTH
6:47
DIFFICULTY
28/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 72% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 1-11, 13-20 and 22, and 18 more places -- 72.1% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 62 BPM
ON AN ISLAND · BAR 1
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

9 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 37, 53, 57, 61, 63, 65 and 6 more.

LOOP · 62 BPM
BAR 37 · LANDS ON BAR 38 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 62 BPM
BAR 53 · LANDS ON BAR 54
LOOP · 62 BPM
BAR 57 · LANDS ON BAR 58
LOOP · 62 BPM
BAR 61 · LANDS ON BAR 62

5 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

144 bars across 7 sections: 115 keep time, 12 are fills, 5 are stops and 8 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 109-143.

CHORUS
PART S2
CHORUS 2
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
4 groovesAES2S4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is On An Island?

62 BPM, in 3/4, with the time kept in sixteenth notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is On An Island hard to play on drums?

28 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 7 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

144 bars, about 6:47 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 16 exercises over 4 sittings, about 23 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, 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 On An Island?

9 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 37, 53, 57, 61, 63, 65 and 6 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 144 BARS ANALYSED
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