Say Say Say · Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson

114 bars of 4/4 at 117 BPM, about 3:52 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare and kick.

90 to 119 BPMFour drums or fewer
TEMPO
117 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
114
LENGTH
3:52
DIFFICULTY
42/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 41% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 11-16, 18-19 and 30-38, and 4 more places -- 41.2% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 117 BPM
SAY SAY SAY · BAR 11
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

1 fill to learn, played 2 times: bars 76 and 77.

LOOP · 117 BPM
BARS 76-77 · LANDS ON BAR 78 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

114 bars across 14 sections: 93 keep time and 2 are fills. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 83-96.

CHORUS
PART B
CHORUS 2
PART B
CHORUS 3
PART B
CHORUS 4
PART B
CHORUS 5
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
4 groovesEBKAFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Say Say Say?

117 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 Say Say Say hard to play on drums?

42 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 7 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

114 bars, about 3:52 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 21 exercises over 7 sittings, about 23 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 Say Say Say?

1 fill to learn, played 2 times: bars 76 and 77.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 114 BARS ANALYSED
AT THIS LEVEL

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