The Great Gig In The Sky (PULSE) · Pink Floyd

28 bars, 1:56, at 57 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot and nothing else.

RockJazz / BluesUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
57 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
28
LENGTH
1:56
DIFFICULTY
43/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 46% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-12, 14 and 16, and 2 more places -- 45.8% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 57 BPM
THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY (PULSE) · BAR 8
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 4 times: bars 5, 13, 15 and 21.

LOOP · 57 BPM
BAR 5 · LANDS ON BAR 6
LOOP · 57 BPM
BAR 13 · LANDS ON BAR 14
LOOP · 57 BPM
BAR 15 · LANDS ON BAR 16
LOOP · 57 BPM
BAR 21 · LANDS ON BAR 22
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

28 bars across 2 sections: 19 keep time, 4 are fills, 1 is a stop and 4 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 6-12.

COUNT-IN
OUTRO
2 groovesCS1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Great Gig In The Sky (PULSE)?

57 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in sixteenth 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 Great Gig In The Sky (PULSE) hard to play on drums?

43 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- with the independence between the hands and the feet the part that decides it. The beat itself is 26 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

28 bars, about 1:56 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 8 exercises over 3 sittings, about 21 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, snare, 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 Great Gig In The Sky (PULSE)?

4 fills to learn, played 4 times: bars 5, 13, 15 and 21.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 28 BARS ANALYSED
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