Once · Pearl Jam

99 bars of 4/4 at a walking 81 BPM, 4:47 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Alternative / IndieRockUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
81 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
99
LENGTH
4:47
DIFFICULTY
64/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 23% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 29-31, 33-35 and 49-51, and 6 more places -- 23.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 81 BPM
ONCE · BAR 30
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

12 fills to learn, played 29 times: bars 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 23 more.

LOOP · 81 BPM
BARS 1-2 · LANDS ON BAR 3 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 81 BPM
BARS 9-12 · LANDS ON BAR 13 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 81 BPM
BAR 28 · LANDS ON BAR 29
LOOP · 81 BPM
BAR 36 · LANDS ON BAR 37 · PLAYED 4 TIMES

8 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

99 bars across 12 sections: 56 keep time, 29 are fills and 1 is a stop. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 18-24.

PART B
PART J
CHORUS
PART I
PART K
CHORUS 2
PART S
OUTRO 2
9 groovesMBKJS+4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Once?

81 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 Once hard to play on drums?

64 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 45 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

99 bars, about 4:47 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 44 exercises over 14 sittings, about 25 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 Once?

12 fills to learn, played 29 times: bars 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 23 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 99 BARS ANALYSED
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