Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay · Otis Redding

70 bars of 4/4 at a walking 104 BPM, 2:42 of playing, on hi-hat, snare and kick.

Funk / Soul90 to 119 BPMFour drums or fewer
TEMPO
104 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
70
LENGTH
2:42
DIFFICULTY
40/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 94% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 5-19, 21-35 and 37-43, and 2 more places -- 93.9% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 104 BPM
SITTIN' ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY · BAR 5
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

70 bars across 2 sections: 66 keep time and 4 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 5-70.

COUNT-IN
OUTRO
2 groovesBS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay?

104 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 Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay hard to play on drums?

40 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 28 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

70 bars, about 2:42 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 4 exercises over 2 sittings, about 22 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

hi-hat, snare and kick. Three pieces and no more -- this one is playable on almost anything with a kick, a snare and something to keep time on.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 70 BARS ANALYSED
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