What A Mess · Alternative Competition 6

243 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 8:06 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
243
LENGTH
8:06
DIFFICULTY
50/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 24% of the song

The beat the song is built on is a 2-bar phrase, played through bars 50-65, 107-108 and 111-112, and 4 more places -- 23.9% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 120 BPM
WHAT A MESS · BARS 50-51
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

8 fills to learn, played 21 times: bars 24, 32, 33, 41, 73, 74 and 15 more.

LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25
LOOP · 120 BPM
BARS 32-33 · LANDS ON BAR 34 · PLAYED 6 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 41 · LANDS ON BAR 42 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 120 BPM
BAR 90 · LANDS ON BAR 91 · PLAYED 2 TIMES

4 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

243 bars across 13 sections: 194 keep time, 21 are fills and 5 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 91-115.

PART C
CHORUS
PART N
CHORUS 2
CHORUS 3
PART N
PART U
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
8 groovesINSUC+3Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is What A Mess?

120 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 What A Mess hard to play on drums?

50 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 24 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

243 bars, about 8:06 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 49 exercises over 13 sittings, about 27 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 What A Mess?

8 fills to learn, played 21 times: bars 24, 32, 33, 41, 73, 74 and 15 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 243 BARS ANALYSED
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