The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down · The Band

111 bars of 4/4 at 127 BPM, about 3:29 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Country / FolkRock120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
127 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
111
LENGTH
3:29
DIFFICULTY
63/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 22% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 27-30, 58-61 and 83-84, and 5 more places -- 21.8% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 127 BPM
THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN · BAR 91
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

11 fills to learn, played 25 times: bars 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 26 and 19 more.

LOOP · 127 BPM
BARS 17-18 · LANDS ON BAR 19 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 127 BPM
BARS 20-22 · LANDS ON BAR 23 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 127 BPM
BAR 26 · LANDS ON BAR 27 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 127 BPM
BAR 49 · LANDS ON BAR 50 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

7 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

111 bars across 13 sections: 54 keep time, 25 are fills, 21 are stops and 1 is silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 68-81.

CHORUS
PART F
CHORUS 2
PART F
PART N
CHORUS 3
PART N
PART I
OUTRO
6 groovesBFNIS13+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down?

127 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 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down hard to play on drums?

63 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in how fine the subdivision is. The beat itself is 40 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

111 bars, about 3:29 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 37 exercises over 10 sittings, about 28 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, hi-hat, 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 Night They Drove Old Dixie Down?

11 fills to learn, played 25 times: bars 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 26 and 19 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 111 BARS ANALYSED
AT THIS LEVEL

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