Smoke On The Water · Deep Purple

163 bars of 4/4 at 114 BPM, about 5:43 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

RockProgressive90 to 119 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
114 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
163
LENGTH
5:43
DIFFICULTY
81/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 18% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 21-23, 49-53 and 77-83, and 2 more places -- 18.4% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 114 BPM
SMOKE ON THE WATER · BAR 21
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

18 fills to learn, played 43 times: bars 24, 28, 31, 32, 36, 39 and 37 more.

LOOP · 114 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 114 BPM
BAR 28 · LANDS ON BAR 29
LOOP · 114 BPM
BARS 31-32 · LANDS ON BAR 33 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 114 BPM
BAR 36 · LANDS ON BAR 37

14 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

163 bars across 16 sections: 100 keep time and 43 are fills. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 87-95.

PART I
CHORUS 2
PART P
CHORUS 3
PART AH
CHORUS 4
CHORUS 5
VERSE
11 groovesEIPAHBA+6Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Smoke On The Water?

114 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 Smoke On The Water hard to play on drums?

81 out of 100. Hard, and what makes it hard is the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 75 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

163 bars, about 5:43 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 66 exercises over 21 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor 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 Smoke On The Water?

18 fills to learn, played 43 times: bars 24, 28, 31, 32, 36, 39 and 37 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 163 BARS ANALYSED
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