Spanish Nights · Ritchie Blackmore

178 bars, 11:50, at 60 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

Country / FolkRockUnder 90 BPMShuffle / triplet
TEMPO
60 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
178
LENGTH
11:50
DIFFICULTY
65/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 50% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-14, 18-19 and 49-53, and 9 more places -- 50% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 60 BPM
SPANISH NIGHTS · BAR 106
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

3 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 55, 109, 110, 168 and 175.

LOOP · 60 BPM
BAR 55 · LANDS ON BAR 56 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 60 BPM
BARS 109-110 · LANDS ON BAR 111 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 60 BPM
BAR 175 · LANDS ON BAR 176
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

178 bars across 10 sections: 150 keep time, 7 are fills, 7 are stops and 4 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 111-149.

CHORUS
PART H
PART I
CHORUS 2
PART H
PART I
CHORUS 3
OUTRO 2
4 groovesCIHS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Spanish Nights?

60 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is Spanish Nights hard to play on drums?

65 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 49 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

178 bars, about 11:50 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 22 exercises over 7 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, 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 Spanish Nights?

3 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 55, 109, 110, 168 and 175.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 178 BARS ANALYSED
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