Skip to Main Content | Lesson Index | Glossary

EDS Songbook Level One  Euphoria – House

Songbook Level One

Understanding the chart

Download and print out the score, so that you can refer to it as you follow the keyboard chart.

'Euphoria'

Start by going through the chart, step by step, looking at each section and understanding what the chart is asking you to do.

Step One

The first thing you will see is the name of the tune, ‘Euphoria’, and the name of the composer. The title is the important one as, if you had a number of songs to play, it is essential that you play the correct one!

Step Two

At the top left hand side, before the tune starts, you will see the note '4 Clicks'. This means that you will hear four clicks before the tune starts. This will help count you into the song.

Step Three

The first section of the song is the Introduction, and the drums build all the way through this section. The first four bars are just playing four-on-the-floor, with the bass drum playing on all four quarter notes.

In the fifth bar the guitar comes in, and the dynamic change is denoted on the drums with a single cymbal crash. The bass drum part continues; but note that, at the end of the eighth bar, there is an extra bass drum on the ‘+’ of ‘4’. This leads into a crash cymbal on beat 1 of bar 9, where the piano rhythm comes in. The Introduction builds, and the same four bars are played again.

In bar 13, there is another cymbal crash. You play two bars and then there is a two bar fill. In this fill, you need to play two bars of sixteenth notes on the snare drum, whilst maintaining the bass drum part playing four-on-the-floor. This fill brings the song into the Chorus and the energy should be built up through the fill. This fill is typical of this style of music. Its origins are in the fact that house music was originally written with drum parts created by programmers. The programmers were, generally, poor at understanding how drum parts are created. As a result, the fills they wrote were both simplistic and not the kind of fills a drummer would actually play. However, these programmed fills have become a ‘standard’ now, and are played and replicated by drummers to typify the style.

Step Four

The Chorus is a very standard groove, with eighth notes on the hi-hat, four-on-the-floor for the bass drum, and the backbeat on the snare drum on beats 2 and 4. There is a variation to the drum part – you will see that you need to play an extra bass drum on the ‘+’ of ‘4’, every fourth bar.

The Chorus is sixteen bars long, and the sixteenth bar is a one bar fill of sixteenth notes on the snare drum. Make sure you keep the bass drum playing on all four beats of the bar.

Step Five

The Verse is much the same as the first Chorus. However, the Verse is made up of two, clearly defined, sixteen bars sections. At bar 49, the guitar plays a more powerful rock guitar part and, consequently, the dynamics pick up quite considerably.

At the end of the second half of the Verse, you will see that there is another one bar fill of sixteenth notes, played on the snare drum, and supported by four-on-the-floor on the bass drum.

Step Six

Take a good look at this next section which is called a ‘Breakdown’. Here, the song is broken down into fewer parts, with the purpose of building the dynamics which are clearly defined by the drum part.

Look carefully at each of the five, four bar, sections that make up the Breakdown. These sections are identical to those in the opening Introduction, at the beginning of the song. Like the first Introduction, this section also culminates in a two bar, sixteenth notes, fill on the snare drum – taking the song into the last chorus.

Step Seven

The final section is a twenty bar Chorus. The Chorus is really a four bar pattern repeated five times – with the other instruments repreating a four bar chord progression.

The song finishes with a one bar fill on the snare drum, and a single cymbal crash on the first beat of the last bar.

The last note is a whole note, and you will then see ‘Fine’ – so you are at the end.

Step Eight

Now, watch and listen to the multimedia files, and follow the chart through a couple of times.

Once you have done that, have a go yourself. You can play with the drummer, or mute the drum track so that you can play with the band on your own.

Remember to:

  1. Concentrate.
  2. Count.
  3. Look at the chart as you play.
  4. Cycle the difficult bits and practise them.
  5. Slow it down to a tempo at which you can read and play.
  6. Have fun.

Next: Euphoria drum score