The Pretender · Foo Fighters

96 bars of 4/4 at a walking 87 BPM, 4:25 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

Alternative / IndieRockUnder 90 BPMIntermediate
TEMPO
87 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
96
LENGTH
4:25
DIFFICULTY
68/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 24% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 26-28, 33-34 and 37-38, and 7 more places -- 23.8% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 87 BPM
THE PRETENDER · BAR 33
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

9 fills to learn, played 16 times: bars 21, 25, 29, 30, 39, 43 and 10 more.

LOOP · 87 BPM
BAR 21 · LANDS ON BAR 22
LOOP · 87 BPM
BAR 25 · LANDS ON BAR 26 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 87 BPM
BARS 29-30 · LANDS ON BAR 31 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 87 BPM
BAR 39 · LANDS ON BAR 40

5 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

96 bars across 11 sections: 54 keep time, 16 are fills and 16 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 12-20.

COUNT-IN
PART D
CHORUS
PART F
CHORUS 2
PART O
PART Q
OUTRO 2
8 groovesHFS1DO+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is The Pretender?

87 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 Pretender hard to play on drums?

68 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 45 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

96 bars, about 4:25 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 29 exercises over 10 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 Pretender?

9 fills to learn, played 16 times: bars 21, 25, 29, 30, 39, 43 and 10 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 96 BARS ANALYSED
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