Prisoner · Dance Gavin Dance

117 bars of 4/4 at 125 BPM, about 3:45 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
125 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
117
LENGTH
3:45
DIFFICULTY
52/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 18% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 25-27, 29-30 and 33-35, and 5 more places -- 18.3% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 125 BPM
PRISONER · BAR 25
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

15 fills to learn, played 18 times: bars 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 12 more.

LOOP · 125 BPM
BAR 4 · LANDS ON BAR 5 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 125 BPM
BAR 8 · LANDS ON BAR 9 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 125 BPM
BAR 12 · LANDS ON BAR 13
LOOP · 125 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25

11 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

117 bars across 14 sections: 67 keep time, 18 are fills, 12 are stops and 8 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 33-40.

PART C
PART C
CHORUS
PART M
PART Q
CHORUS 2
PART S
PART X
10 groovesGCMSX+5Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Prisoner?

125 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 Prisoner hard to play on drums?

52 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 25 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

117 bars, about 3:45 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 48 exercises over 13 sittings, about 26 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 Prisoner?

15 fills to learn, played 18 times: bars 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 12 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 117 BARS ANALYSED
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