Rocky Mountain Way · Joe Walsh

111 bars of 6/4 -- not four -- at 128 BPM, 5:12 of playing on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

RockCountry / Folk120 to 149 BPMShuffle / triplet
TEMPO
128 BPM
TIME
6/4
BARS
111
LENGTH
5:12
DIFFICULTY
43/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 42% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 12-13, 16 and 19-27, and 9 more places -- 41.5% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 128 BPM
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY · BAR 12
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

5 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 10, 34, 39, 40, 51 and 53.

LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 10 · LANDS ON BAR 11
LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 34 · LANDS ON BAR 35
LOOP · 128 BPM
BARS 39-40 · LANDS ON BAR 41 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 128 BPM
BAR 51 · LANDS ON BAR 52

1 more fill is written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

111 bars across 8 sections: 51 keep time, 6 are fills and 46 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 54-74.

COUNT-IN
PART E
CHORUS
PART G
OUTRO
BREAK
5 groovesDS8GS1EFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Rocky Mountain Way?

128 BPM, in 6/4, 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 Rocky Mountain Way hard to play on drums?

43 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 46 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

111 bars, about 5:12 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 21 exercises over 7 sittings, about 25 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid 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 Rocky Mountain Way?

5 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 10, 34, 39, 40, 51 and 53.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 111 BARS ANALYSED
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