Paul · Big Thief

49 bars, 2:57, at 63 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

Country / FolkAlternative / IndieUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
63 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
49
LENGTH
2:57
DIFFICULTY
32/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 26% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 10-11, 13 and 22-23, and 3 more places -- 26.3% of every bar the kit plays. That is the spine of it; everything else is what happens around it.

LOOP · 63 BPM
PAUL · BAR 10
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 8 times: bars 14, 15, 26, 27, 34, 42 and 2 more.

LOOP · 63 BPM
BAR 34 · LANDS ON BAR 35
LOOP · 63 BPM
BAR 42 · LANDS ON BAR 43

1 more fill is written out on the fills page.

THE SHAPE

How the song is built

49 bars across 7 sections: 25 keep time, 8 are fills and 11 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 28-33.

COUNT-IN
PART D
CHORUS
PART D
CHORUS 2
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
4 groovesGDS1S6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Paul?

63 BPM, in 4/4, 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 Paul hard to play on drums?

32 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 21 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

49 bars, about 2:57 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 14 exercises over 4 sittings, about 25 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 Paul?

3 fills to learn, played 8 times: bars 14, 15, 26, 27, 34, 42 and 2 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 49 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Big Thief drum parts

EVERY BIG THIEF CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →