The Dark Side of the Moon (Side 1) · Pink Floyd

373 bars, 23:28, at 64 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

RockProgressiveUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
64 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
373
LENGTH
23:28
DIFFICULTY
52/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 46% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 63-225 -- 46.3% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 64 BPM
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (SIDE 1) · BAR 63
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

8 fills to learn, played 36 times: bars 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 30 more.

LOOP · 64 BPM
BARS 8-18 · LANDS ON BAR 19 · PLAYED 11 TIMES
LOOP · 64 BPM
BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27
LOOP · 64 BPM
BARS 249-264 · LANDS ON BAR 265 · PLAYED 16 TIMES
LOOP · 64 BPM
BAR 304 · LANDS ON BAR 305

4 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

373 bars across 23 sections: 287 keep time, 36 are fills, 2 are stops and 21 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 60-225.

PART A
CHORUS
PART AJ
18 groovesAGBABCAJA+13Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Dark Side of the Moon (Side 1)?

64 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 The Dark Side of the Moon (Side 1) hard to play on drums?

52 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in how fine the subdivision is. The beat itself is 6 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

373 bars, about 23:28 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 64 exercises over 19 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 The Dark Side of the Moon (Side 1)?

8 fills to learn, played 36 times: bars 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 30 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 373 BARS ANALYSED
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