A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed ...

establishing the

meter The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pr ...

and groove through the

pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the ...

and

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

, played on

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

s and other

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes occurring over multiple musical beats while the term "drum beat"Principals of Basic Drum Beats
/ref> may also refer to a single drum stroke which may occupy more or less time than the current pulse. Many drum beats define or are characteristic of specific

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from '' musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are som ...

s. Many basic drum beats establish the pulse through alternating

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(on the

on-beat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a p ...

s) and

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used i ...

s (on the off-beats) strokes while establishing the subdivision on the ride cymbal (thus its name) or

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist ...

This establishes a quarter note pulse in (quad) duple time: each measure is formed from (two groups of) two quarter note pulses, each pulse divided into two eighth notes. Simple triple drum pattern

This establishes a quarter note pulse in

triple time Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 ( simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...

: each measure is formed from three quarter note pulses, each divided into two eighth notes. Compound duple drum pattern

This establishes a dotted-quarter note pulse in duple time: each measure is formed from two dotted-quarter note pulses, each pulse divided into three eighth notes. Jazz triplet subdivision

Compound triple meter is equivalent to simple duple meter with triplets on every beat. Compound triple drum pattern

This establishes a dotted-quarter note pulse in triple time: each measure is formed from three dotted-quarter note pulses, each pulse divided into three eighth notes. A " fill" is played in between the regular strokes of a pattern and/or signals the end of a

phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can con ...

Fill with groove number 2 and sixteenth notes

Since a phrase is multiple measures long, a fill signaling the end of one would come at the end of the last in a series of repeated measures. In

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

and

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

patterns the pulse and ride are either doubled or halved, respectively, occurring twice or half as often: Double-time rock pattern

blast beat A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal and death metal,Adam MacGregor, '' PCP Torpedo'' by Agoraphobic Noseblee ...

drum pattern features all

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

on the eighth note subdivision or variants with one or more drum's pattern displaced by a sixteenth note: Blast beat drum pattern

This resembles a combination of double-time (bass-snare pattern) and original time (ride pattern). Delayed backbeat

Despite the difference in notation, there is no difference in

interonset interval In music a time point or ''timepoint'' (point in time) is "an instant, analogous to a geometrical point in space". Because it has no duration, it literally cannot be heard, but it may be used to represent "the point of initiation of a single pitch ...

s and this pattern is nearly identical to the first simple duple pattern except for the second onbeat being divided into two eighth notes and the second backbeat being delayed an eighth note. The heavy metal gallop, named for a horse's

canter The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine. The canter is a controlled three-beat gait, while the gallop is a faster, four-beat variation of the same gait. It is a natural gait p ...

, is based on a bass drum pattern of one eighth followed by two sixteenths. Gallop drum pattern

Sources

{{drum beats Drum patterns

See also

Sources