Birds of Fire
Mahavishnu Orchestra · 1973
A landmark for odd-meter fusion drumming and Billy Cobham's powerful ambidextrous approach.
- Artist
- Mahavishnu Orchestra
- Year
- 1973
- Genre
- fusion
- Drummer
- Billy Cobham
- Tempo
- 132 bpm
- Time
- 18/8
- Feel
- fusion
- Difficulty
- advanced
Drummer's Quick-Start
Practice tempos
Woodshed
80bpm
Building
106bpm
Target
132bpm
The feel
A fusion in 18/8 around 132 BPM. It moves — stay relaxed in the hands so you don't tense up and rush.
What to watch
- •Advanced: isolate the single hardest bar and loop it slowly before ever playing along.
How to learn it
Well-known tutorials exist for this one — use the links below, and play along from your own copy.
Generated from this song's groove profile — analysis only, no notation. A human-reviewed AI brief with a full groove breakdown, key moments and song map replaces this as briefs roll out.
Learn it
Find drum tutorials on YouTube ↗iDrum links to where lessons already live — we don't host recordings or publish transcriptions. Play along from your own music.
Discussion
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