Heartbreaker – Led Zeppelin drums: play-along

Heartbreaker drums: tempo, difficulty and parts

Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin is 96 BPM and runs 4:13: 129 bars and 1,303 notes played on the kick, hi-hat, snare, ride and crash.

The drum part is rated Medium — comfortable once the groove is steady, and the fills are where it asks more.

The first fill worth practising comes at 0:46, its longest section is the Free Time (0:43).

Song map

0:01Intro Riff
0:26Verse 1
0:49Riff
1:09Verse 2
1:32Bridge
2:04Free Time
2:47Fast Shuffle
3:05Solo 2
3:38Verse 3
4:03Outro

Heartbreaker drum beats and fills

The beats and fills worth practising in Heartbreaker, found in DRUMY’s drum chart: the ones to learn first, not every one in the song. Each beat is listed where it first comes in, with how many bars of its section play it; a fill marked ×2 or more comes round again later, the same or nearly the same.

Beats

Intro Riff beat0:08bar 57 bars
Verse beat0:26bar 124 bars
Bridge beat1:34bar 416 bars
Fast Shuffle beat2:49bar 728 bars
Verse 3 beat3:38bar 1153 bars

Fills

Fill at bar 200:46bar 20×3
Fill at bar 1233:58bar 123

Learn them in the Trainer

The Trainer teaches Heartbreaker a part at a time, then the joins between the parts, every step starting at 70% of full speed.

How to play Heartbreaker on drums

Plug in your electronic drum kit over USB — or play on the keyboard.
Press play. The notes of Heartbreaker come down in time with the recording. Play it in Beatfall or read it as drum notation.
Slow it down. Take the Fill at bar 123 at 0.5× or 0.75× with a click and a count-in, then bring it up to 96 BPM.
Check every hit — on time, early or late — before you record your Heartbreaker drum cover.

Play Heartbreaker on your kit

Heartbreaker on drums: questions

How hard is Heartbreaker on drums?

Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin is rated medium in the song library: 1,303 notes over 129 bars at 96 BPM. Start it at 0.5× or 0.75×, or on the Easy level with the hardest notes taken out.

What BPM is Heartbreaker?

Heartbreaker plays at about 96 BPM and runs 4:13.

Where are the drum fills in Heartbreaker?

The fills worth practising in Heartbreaker come at 0:46 (Fill at bar 20, played 3 times) and 3:58 (Fill at bar 123). These are the ones DRUMY's drum chart picks out to learn first, not every fill in the song.

Can I play Heartbreaker on drums without the drums in the song?

Play it along with the full recording, or turn the backing off and play to the click.

Can I learn Heartbreaker step by step?

Yes. DRUMY's Trainer turns Heartbreaker into a course: its beats, fills and joins one at a time. Each step starts at 70% of full speed, moves up after two times round at 90% or better, and slows to as low as 50% if it needs to. Learning the hands and the kick separately is an option.