Rockin' in the Free World · Neil Young

155 bars of 4/4 at 130 BPM, about 4:46 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

RockCountry / Folk120 to 149 BPMFour drums or fewer
TEMPO
130 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
155
LENGTH
4:46
DIFFICULTY
47/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 63% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-23, 25-39 and 56-67, and 6 more places -- 63.2% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 130 BPM
ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD · BAR 6
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

5 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 24, 40, 43, 44, 68, 84 and 6 more.

LOOP · 130 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 130 BPM
BARS 43-44 · LANDS ON BAR 45 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 130 BPM
BARS 86-88 · LANDS ON BAR 89 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 130 BPM
BARS 103-104 · LANDS ON BAR 105 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

1 more fill is written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

155 bars across 11 sections: 122 keep time, 12 are fills and 10 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 7-23.

CHORUS
PART A
CHORUS 2
CHORUS 3
CHORUS 4
PART O
OUTRO
3 groovesBAOFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Rockin' in the Free World?

130 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 Rockin' in the Free World hard to play on drums?

47 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 31 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

155 bars, about 4:46 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 20 exercises over 5 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

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

How many fills are in Rockin' in the Free World?

5 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 24, 40, 43, 44, 68, 84 and 6 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 155 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Neil Young drum parts

EVERY NEIL YOUNG CHART →
AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →