Just My Imagination – The Cranberries drums: play-along

Just My Imagination drums: tempo, difficulty and parts

Just My Imagination by The Cranberries is 101 BPM and runs 3:39: 92 bars and 1,227 notes played on the ride, snare, kick, hi-hat, crash, tom 1 and tom 2.

The drum part is rated Easy — a good first song: steady, and forgiving while you find the groove.

The first fill worth practising comes at 0:07, its longest section is the Chorus 3 (1:26) and the hi-hat opens as well as closes.

Song map

0:10Verse 1
0:29Chorus
0:48Riff
0:57Verse 2
1:16Chorus 2
1:35Riff
1:54Verse 3
2:13Chorus 3

Just My Imagination drum beats and fills

The beats and fills worth practising in Just My Imagination, 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

Verse 1 beat0:12bar 64 bars
Chorus beat0:31bar 144 bars
Riff beat0:48bar 213 bars
Verse beat0:57bar 253 bars

Fills

Intro fill0:07bar 4
Fill at bar 80:17bar 8×2
Fill at bar 160:36bar 16×3
Fill into Riff0:45bar 20
Fill into Verse 20:55bar 24
Fill at bar 281:04bar 28×2
Fill into Chorus 21:14bar 32
Fill at bar 361:23bar 36×2

Learn them in the Trainer

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

How to play Just My Imagination on drums

Plug in your electronic drum kit over USB — or play on the keyboard.
Press play. The notes of Just My Imagination 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 36 at 0.5× or 0.75× with a click and a count-in, then bring it up to 101 BPM.
Check every hit — on time, early or late — before you record your Just My Imagination drum cover.

Play Just My Imagination on your kit

Just My Imagination on drums: questions

How hard is Just My Imagination on drums?

Just My Imagination by The Cranberries is rated easy in the song library: 1,227 notes over 92 bars at 101 BPM. Start it at 0.5× or 0.75×, or on the Easy level with the hardest notes taken out.

What BPM is Just My Imagination?

Just My Imagination plays at about 101 BPM and runs 3:39.

Where are the drum fills in Just My Imagination?

The fills worth practising in Just My Imagination come at 0:07 (Intro fill), 0:17 (Fill at bar 8, played twice), 0:36 (Fill at bar 16, played 3 times), 0:45 (Fill into Riff), 0:55 (Fill into Verse 2) and 1:04 (Fill at bar 28, played twice), with more after that. These are the ones DRUMY's drum chart picks out to learn first, not every fill in the song.

Can I play Just My Imagination 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 Just My Imagination step by step?

Yes. DRUMY's Trainer turns Just My Imagination 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.