I devised a way to count into that snare hit in "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

A mechanical metronome placed on top of music sheets

Do you recall that time when our social media feeds were just full of people doing the Whitney Houston Challenge? Well, I did! For those who might not know, this challenge involved blasting "I Will Always Love You" through the speakers and asking friends and family to try to hit an object — whether an upside down bowl, a cymbal, a sauce pan, or an actual floor tom — and miraculously land the hit with the actual beat in the recording.

Some rely solely on luck, while others, including drummers, even try to feel the groove and count their way in; however, not even all drummers hit it at the right time!!! So. Here is the issue with counting your way into that glorious chorus: the snare is NOT on the 1.

The song may be in 4/4 at 135.5bpm, but this part leading from the 3rd verse to the chorus specifically does not have a tempo locked in due to some changes in the "I wish you love" line. There is a way however, for you to land on the hit. It takes some practise, but it has worked for me almost all of the time. For this to work, you'll need to do two things:

Make sure your tempo memory is good.

Listen to the last two lines of the 3rd verse over and over. This happens at 02:49–03:05. Retain that tempo and don't let that ritardando throw you off at the end! In other words, Keep a mental metronome in your head. Actively listen out for the last chord change played by the synth keys from Dmaj7 to E.

Start counting.

Start counting at 1 the same time the E chord drops. Here is where it gets weird, but bear with me. With the tempo from the 3rd verse retained in your brain, start counting up to 12. The snare hit is at the 12th count. Yeah, that's right, the snare is technically on the 4th beat of the 3rd bar after the chord change. That's what's throwing us off. It's also important to share that I prefer using the bpm of 135.5 and not 67.75 to make it easier to land on the snare hit!

GET TO WORK AND PRACTISE!

It took me a whole afternoon to get 8/10 attempts right and can now confidently say that I can hit the snare if not on the hit, only milliseconds before or after the hit.

Maybe this could be added to your list of party tricks? Go and find out.