What It Takes · Aerosmith

90 bars, 5:09, at 70 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

RockUnder 90 BPM
TEMPO
70 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
90
LENGTH
5:09
DIFFICULTY
51/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 60% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 6-13, 15-22 and 24, and 15 more places -- 60% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and the song is very nearly finished.

LOOP · 70 BPM
WHAT IT TAKES · BAR 6
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

4 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 27, 45, 60, 64 and 90.

LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 27 · LANDS ON BAR 28 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 60 · LANDS ON BAR 61
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 64 · LANDS ON BAR 65
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 90
EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

90 bars across 4 sections: 79 keep time, 5 are fills and 2 are stops. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 7-26.

PART B
CHORUS
OUTRO
3 groovesDPBFill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is What It Takes?

70 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is What It Takes hard to play on drums?

51 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 32 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

90 bars, about 5:09 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 19 exercises over 6 sittings, about 25 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 It Takes?

4 fills to learn, played 5 times: bars 27, 45, 60, 64 and 90.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 90 BARS ANALYSED
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