Small Town AI · John Cougar Mellencamp

101 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 3:22 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
101
LENGTH
3:22
DIFFICULTY
41/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 52% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-15, 21-22 and 26-27, and 9 more places -- 51.5% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 120 BPM
SMALL TOWN AI · BAR 26
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

5 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 23, 24, 44, 45, 47, 49 and 6 more.

LOOP · 120 BPM
BARS 23-24 · LANDS ON BAR 25 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BARS 44-45 · LANDS ON BAR 46 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 47 · LANDS ON BAR 48 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 70 · LANDS ON BAR 71 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

1 more fill is written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

101 bars across 8 sections: 75 keep time, 12 are fills and 4 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 76-93.

CHORUS
CHORUS 2
PART E
PART A
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
3 groovesBEAFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Small Town AI?

120 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 Small Town AI hard to play on drums?

41 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 35 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

101 bars, about 3:22 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 22 exercises over 6 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, 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 Small Town AI?

5 fills to learn, played 12 times: bars 23, 24, 44, 45, 47, 49 and 6 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 101 BARS ANALYSED
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