Watching The Detectives · Elvis Costello

126 bars of 4/4 at 137 BPM, about 3:36 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

RockAlternative / Indie120 to 149 BPMShuffle / triplet
TEMPO
137 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
126
LENGTH
3:36
DIFFICULTY
64/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 20% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 21-22, 41 and 43-45, and 6 more places -- 20.2% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 137 BPM
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES · BAR 41
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

5 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 2, 14, 33, 34, 118 and 126.

LOOP · 137 BPM
BAR 2 · LANDS ON BAR 3
LOOP · 137 BPM
BAR 14 · LANDS ON BAR 15
LOOP · 137 BPM
BARS 33-34 · LANDS ON BAR 35 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 137 BPM
BAR 118 · LANDS ON BAR 119

1 more fill is written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

126 bars across 11 sections: 98 keep time, 6 are fills, 4 are stops and 2 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 43-61.

PART C
PART K
CHORUS
PART L
CHORUS 2
PART U
CHORUS 3
PART D
OUTRO 2
8 groovesOLDKAK+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Watching The Detectives?

137 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 Watching The Detectives hard to play on drums?

64 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 47 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

126 bars, about 3:36 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 42 exercises over 14 sittings, about 25 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 Watching The Detectives?

5 fills to learn, played 6 times: bars 2, 14, 33, 34, 118 and 126.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 126 BARS ANALYSED
MORE BY THIS BAND

Other Elvis Costello drum parts

AT THIS LEVEL

Play something else today

EVERY SONG A-Z →