Small Town · John Cougar Mellencamp

109 bars of 4/4 at 124 BPM, about 3:31 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

RockPop120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
124 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
109
LENGTH
3:31
DIFFICULTY
40/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 22% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 25, 31 and 33-35, and 11 more places -- 22% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 124 BPM
SMALL TOWN · BAR 31
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

9 fills to learn, played 15 times: bars 23, 24, 44, 45, 62, 66 and 9 more.

LOOP · 124 BPM
BARS 23-24 · LANDS ON BAR 25 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 124 BPM
BARS 44-45 · LANDS ON BAR 46 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 124 BPM
BAR 62 · LANDS ON BAR 63 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 124 BPM
BARS 69-70 · LANDS ON BAR 71 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

5 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

109 bars across 8 sections: 77 keep time, 15 are fills and 6 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 1-22.

CHORUS
PART D
PART E
PART L
PART E
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
4 groovesADELFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Small Town?

124 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 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 39 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

109 bars, about 3:31 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 35 exercises over 9 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, 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?

9 fills to learn, played 15 times: bars 23, 24, 44, 45, 62, 66 and 9 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 109 BARS ANALYSED
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