Drum Patterns
Common drum patterns across genres. Each row is a drum voice, each block is a 16th-note step.
Drum Patterns
Drum Patterns is a reference library and sequencer in one. Browse the patterns that define rock, funk, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and Latin styles, then play them back at any tempo from 50 to 200 BPM.
How to use it
- Filter by genre, or view all patterns.
- Select a pattern to see the grid and hear it.
- Drag the BPM slider to hear it at the tempo you are working at.
The backbeat, and how genres differ from it
The standard rock beat puts the kick on beats 1 and 3 and the snare on 2 and 4, with eighth notes on the hi-hat. That snare on 2 and 4 is the backbeat, and it is the backbone of most popular music.
Genres are largely defined by how they depart from it. Funk keeps the backbeat but crowds the kick into sixteenth-note syncopations. Reggae drops or displaces beat 1 entirely and emphasises 3. Jazz moves the timekeeping to the ride cymbal in a swung triplet feel and uses the snare for comments rather than the pulse.
Worked example
The basic rock beat on a 16-step grid:
- Kickbeats 1 and 3
- Snarebeats 2 and 4
- Hi-hatevery eighth note
- Tempo100 BPM
Result: The pattern underneath a very large share of rock and pop recordings.
When it helps
- Learning what actually distinguishes one genre's groove from another.
- Finding a pattern to practise an instrument over.
- Programming drums when you do not play them.
- Hearing a pattern slowly before trying to play it up to tempo.
What this tool handles
- Patterns cover rock, funk, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and Latin.
- Tempo is adjustable while a pattern plays.
