The Gambler · Kenny Rogers

77 bars of 4/4 at a walking 89 BPM, 3:25 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

Country / FolkPopUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
89 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
77
LENGTH
3:25
DIFFICULTY
47/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 39% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 29, 31-32 and 34, and 5 more places -- 38.8% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 89 BPM
THE GAMBLER · BAR 29
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

5 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 27, 36, 37, 53, 69 and 77.

LOOP · 89 BPM
BAR 27 · LANDS ON BAR 28
LOOP · 89 BPM
BAR 53 · LANDS ON BAR 54
LOOP · 89 BPM
BAR 69 · LANDS ON BAR 70

2 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

77 bars across 7 sections: 53 keep time, 6 are fills, 1 is a stop and 10 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 39-49.

COUNT-IN
PART B
PART E
CHORUS
PART H
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
6 groovesIOBS1E+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Gambler?

89 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 The Gambler hard to play on drums?

47 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 31 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

77 bars, about 3:25 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 26 exercises over 7 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, 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 The Gambler?

5 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 27, 36, 37, 53, 69 and 77.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 77 BARS ANALYSED
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