Uncontrollable Urge – DEVO drums: play-along

Uncontrollable Urge drums: tempo, difficulty and parts

Uncontrollable Urge by DEVO is 180 BPM and runs 3:11: 143 bars and 1,299 notes played on the kick, floor tom, snare, hi-hat, tom 2, crash and tom 1.

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 0:19, its longest section is the Breakdown (0:37) and the hi-hat opens as well as closes.

Song map

0:00Intro
0:20Verse 1
0:28yeah yeah yeah...
0:59Chorus
1:23Verse 2
1:28yeah yeah yeah...
1:59Chorus 2
2:23Breakdown
3:00Outro(yeah yeah yeah...)

Uncontrollable Urge drum beats and fills

The beats and fills worth practising in Uncontrollable Urge, 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 beat0:03bar 32 bars
Verse 1 beat0:20bar 166 bars
yeah yeah yeah... beat0:39bar 3012 bars
Chorus beat1:09bar 532 bars
Verse 2 beat1:23bar 632 bars
yeah yeah yeah... beat1:31bar 693 bars

Fills

Fill into Verse 10:19bar 15
Fill at bar 450:59bar 45×4
Fill at bar 481:03bar 48×2
Fill at bar 521:08bar 52×2
Fill at bar 551:12bar 55×4
Fill at bar 871:55bar 87

Learn them in the Trainer

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

How to play Uncontrollable Urge on drums

Plug in your electronic drum kit over USB — or play on the keyboard.
Press play. The notes of Uncontrollable Urge 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 87 at 0.5× or 0.75× with a click and a count-in, then bring it up to 180 BPM.
Check every hit — on time, early or late — before you record your Uncontrollable Urge drum cover.

Play Uncontrollable Urge on your kit

Uncontrollable Urge on drums: questions

How hard is Uncontrollable Urge on drums?

Uncontrollable Urge by DEVO is rated medium in the song library: 1,299 notes over 143 bars at 180 BPM. Start it at 0.5× or 0.75×, or on the Easy level with the hardest notes taken out.

What BPM is Uncontrollable Urge?

Uncontrollable Urge plays at about 180 BPM and runs 3:11.

Where are the drum fills in Uncontrollable Urge?

The fills worth practising in Uncontrollable Urge come at 0:19 (Fill into Verse 1), 0:59 (Fill at bar 45, played 4 times), 1:03 (Fill at bar 48, played twice), 1:08 (Fill at bar 52, played twice), 1:12 (Fill at bar 55, played 4 times) and 1:55 (Fill at bar 87). These are the ones DRUMY's drum chart picks out to learn first, not every fill in the song.

Can I play Uncontrollable Urge 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 Uncontrollable Urge step by step?

Yes. DRUMY's Trainer turns Uncontrollable Urge 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.