Sugar – Maroon 5 drums: play-along

Sugar drums: tempo, difficulty and parts

Sugar by Maroon 5 is 120 BPM and runs 3:52: 116 bars and 1,190 notes played on the hi-hat, kick, snare and crash.

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

Its longest section is the Outro (0:40), the hi-hat opens as well as closes.

Song map

0:00Intro
0:08Verse 1
0:24Pre-Chorus
0:40Chorus
1:12Verse 2
1:28Pre-Chorus
1:44Chorus
2:16Bridge
2:40Chorus
3:12Outro

Sugar drum beats

The beats worth practising in Sugar, 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.

Beats

Verse 1 beat0:08bar 56 bars
Pre-Chorus beat0:24bar 138 bars

Learn them in the Trainer

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

How to play Sugar on drums

Plug in your electronic drum kit over USB — or play on the keyboard.
Press play. The notes of Sugar come down in time with the recording. Play it in Beatfall or read it as drum notation.
Slow it down. Take the Verse 1 beat at 0.5× or 0.75× with a click and a count-in, then bring it up to 120 BPM.
Check every hit — on time, early or late — before you record your Sugar drum cover.

Play Sugar on your kit

Sugar on drums: questions

How hard is Sugar on drums?

Sugar by Maroon 5 is rated easy in the song library: 1,190 notes over 116 bars at 120 BPM. Start it at 0.5× or 0.75×, or on the Easy level with the hardest notes taken out.

What BPM is Sugar?

Sugar plays at about 120 BPM and runs 3:52.

Can I play Sugar 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 Sugar step by step?

Yes. DRUMY's Trainer turns Sugar 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.