Drum beat in the style of “Piano Man” — Billy Joel
Loading the 3D drum kit…
Practice
Sound
View
Song grooves
· Simplified drum grooves in the style of famous songs — not exact transcriptions.
Billy Joel’s 1973 story-song is a waltz in 3/4. The drums stay light and simple — kick on 1, snare or hi-hat on 2 and 3 — to leave room for the piano.
- Tempo
- 176 BPM
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Groove
- waltz beat in 3/4
- Genre
- Rock
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Loop
- 4 bars
Drum pattern
| Hi-hat | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||
| Kick |
| Hi-hat | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||
| Kick |
Each row is one drum, each column one step. Large dots are accents, small dots normal hits, faint dots ghost notes.
Who plays what: notes per bar
| Cymbal hand | 6 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 2 |
| Kick foot | 1 |
Every kick lines up with a cymbal stroke, which makes this one of the easiest coordination patterns to start with.
About this groove
At about 176 BPM it has a fast tempo: one beat lasts 341 ms and a 3/4 bar takes 1 seconds. Use the tempo buttons to slow it down while you learn.
Practice plan
Similar drum beats
This is a simplified rhythm pattern in the style of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, written for drum practice. It is not a transcription of the recording and contains no audio, lyrics or artwork. Drums3D is not affiliated with Billy Joel.