Straight Ahead · Jimi Hendrix

125 bars of 4/4 at a walking 108 BPM, 4:37 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

RockJazz / Blues90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
108 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
125
LENGTH
4:37
DIFFICULTY
63/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 16% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 26-30, 32 and 42-45, and 3 more places -- 16.1% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 108 BPM
STRAIGHT AHEAD · BAR 26
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

11 fills to learn, played 25 times: bars 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 19 more.

LOOP · 108 BPM
BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6
LOOP · 108 BPM
BAR 7 · LANDS ON BAR 8
LOOP · 108 BPM
BAR 9 · LANDS ON BAR 10
LOOP · 108 BPM
BARS 11-13 · LANDS ON BAR 14 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

7 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

125 bars across 20 sections: 70 keep time, 25 are fills and 1 is silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 87-97.

PART E
PART S
PART S
CHORUS 2
PART S
CHORUS 3
OUTRO 2
8 groovesVSPHE+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Straight Ahead?

108 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second 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 Straight Ahead hard to play on drums?

63 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 32 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

125 bars, about 4:37 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 49 exercises over 16 sittings, about 25 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, 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 Straight Ahead?

11 fills to learn, played 25 times: bars 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 19 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 125 BARS ANALYSED
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