Smells Like Teen Spirit · Nirvana

144 bars of 4/4 at 113 BPM, about 5:06 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
113 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
144
LENGTH
5:06
DIFFICULTY
66/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 41% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 5-11, 33-43 and 69-79, and 2 more places -- 40.6% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 113 BPM
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT · BAR 5
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 13 times: bars 4, 32, 44, 45, 46, 47 and 7 more.

LOOP · 113 BPM
BAR 4 · LANDS ON BAR 5
LOOP · 113 BPM
BAR 32 · LANDS ON BAR 33 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 113 BPM
BARS 44-47 · LANDS ON BAR 48 · PLAYED 4 TIMES
LOOP · 113 BPM
BARS 80-84 · LANDS ON BAR 85 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

144 bars across 13 sections: 112 keep time, 13 are fills, 1 is a stop and 6 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 85-99.

CHORUS
PART E
PART F
CHORUS 2
PART E
PART F
CHORUS 3
PART E
PART F
CHORUS 4
OUTRO
6 groovesCEFLS13+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Smells Like Teen Spirit?

113 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 Smells Like Teen Spirit hard to play on drums?

66 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 50 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

144 bars, about 5:06 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 21 exercises over 6 sittings, about 28 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, kick and hi-hat foot. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Smells Like Teen Spirit?

4 fills to learn, played 13 times: bars 4, 32, 44, 45, 46, 47 and 7 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 144 BARS ANALYSED
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