Piano Man (Ver. 2) · Billy Joel

166 bars of 4/4 at 110 BPM, about 6:21 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick.

Country / FolkPop90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
110 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
166
LENGTH
6:21
DIFFICULTY
35/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 60% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 23-26, 32-35 and 39, and 17 more places -- 59.6% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 110 BPM
PIANO MAN (VER. 2) · BAR 23
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

1 fill to learn, played 1 time: bar 147.

LOOP · 110 BPM
BAR 147 · LANDS ON BAR 148
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

166 bars across 11 sections: 136 keep time, 1 is a fill and 20 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 86-146.

COUNT-IN
PART B
CHORUS
CHORUS 2
CHORUS 3
OUTRO
BREAK 2
7 groovesHBS1S11F+2Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Piano Man (Ver. 2)?

110 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 Piano Man (Ver. 2) hard to play on drums?

35 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 27 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

166 bars, about 6:21 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 24 exercises over 6 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare and kick. Nothing in the part asks for anything else.

How many fills are in Piano Man (Ver. 2)?

1 fill to learn, played 1 time: bar 147.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 166 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Billy Joel drum parts

EVERY BILLY JOEL CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →