Basic drum beats: how to program rock, house and hip-hop grooves

Almost every basic drum beat is built from three parts: a kick drum that anchors the downbeats, a snare or clap on the backbeat, and a hi-hat that keeps time between them. Move those three around a one-bar grid and you get rock, house, hip-hop and most popular styles. The patterns below are written as 16-step grids you can copy straight into the drum machine, which loads several of them as presets.

Reading a 16-step grid

A 16-step grid divides one bar of 4/4 into sixteenth notes. Steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 are the four beats, counted "1 e and a, 2 e and a" and so on, so step 3 is the "and" of beat 1 and step 7 the "and" of beat 2. In the grids here, x is a hit and a dot is a rest, one character per step. Each row is one drum, read left to right, and the bar loops. Sixteen steps is the standard layout of classic step sequencers, and it is enough for the large majority of everyday grooves. If you play a real kit, the hi-hat row is usually the right hand, the snare the left hand and the kick the right foot, so these grids translate directly into what you practise.

The basic rock beat

This is the first beat most drummers learn:

• Hi-hat: x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x. (eighth notes)
• Snare: ....x.......x... (beats 2 and 4)
• Kick: x.......x....... (beats 1 and 3)

The snare on 2 and 4 is the backbeat, the feature that defines rock and pop. A common variation adds a kick on the "and" of 2, x.....x.x......., which pushes the groove forward. For a faster-feeling version, play the hi-hat on every sixteenth; for a heavier one, open the hi-hat on the off-beats.

Four on the floor

Disco, house and most dance music put the kick on every beat:

• Kick: x...x...x...x...
• Clap or snare: ....x.......x...
• Open hi-hat: ..x...x...x...x. (the off-beat eighths)

The off-beat open hi-hat between the kicks gives the familiar pumping feel. House is usually programmed at around 120 to 128 BPM; set the tempo first, as Tempo markings and BPM: what Andante, Allegro and Presto mean explains.

Hip-hop, half time and dembow

Classic boom-bap hip-hop keeps the backbeat but syncopates the kick:

• Hi-hat: x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
• Snare: ....x.......x...
• Kick: x......x..x..... (beat 1, the last sixteenth of beat 2, and the "and" of 3)

It sits comfortably between about 85 and 95 BPM. A half-time feel moves the snare to beat 3 only, ........x......., so the groove feels half as fast while the hi-hats keep the original pace; it is common in trap and heavier rock. The dembow rhythm behind reggaeton uses a four-on-the-floor kick with a snare on ...x..x....x..x., a 3+3+2 pattern repeated each half bar.

Swing and shuffle

Straight sixteenths are evenly spaced. Swing delays every second one, so pairs of notes become long-short. The swing control in the drum machine delays the off-beat sixteenths by up to a third of a step at full setting, which turns them into a triplet shuffle. Small amounts, around 10 to 30 percent, add a human lilt to hip-hop and house; full swing suits blues and shuffle grooves. Swing only affects off-beat steps, so a pattern with hits only on the beats will not change.

Programming tips

• Start with kick and snare alone; if the groove works without hi-hats, it will work with them.
• Leave space. A busy kick pattern fights the bass line in a full mix.
• Add variation every fourth bar, such as an extra kick or a tom fill, so a loop does not feel static.
• Copy the pattern code to save a beat, and export a WAV loop to practise over or use in a project.

The drum machine synthesises its sounds with Web Audio rather than using recorded kits, and every hit plays at the same level, so it suits sketching and practice more than finished productions. To play beats live with your fingers instead, try the drum pad, and to lock your playing to a click, use the metronome.