Sympathy for the Devil
The Rolling Stones · 1968
A rock-samba hybrid that introduces Latin feel within a rock band setting.
- Artist
- The Rolling Stones
- Year
- 1968
- Genre
- classic rock
- Drummer
- Charlie Watts
- Tempo
- 116 bpm
- Time
- 4/4
- Feel
- samba-rock groove
- Difficulty
- intermediate
Drummer's Quick-Start
Practice tempos
Woodshed
70bpm
Building
92bpm
Target
116bpm
The feel
A samba-rock groove in 4/4 around 116 BPM. A comfortable mid-tempo — lock the backbeat first, then shape the dynamics.
What to watch
- •Anchor everything to the clave/ostinato; keep it steady while the rest moves.
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
Set your name to start a discussion about this song.