Breakbeat: drum pattern and how to play it
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Practice
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Song grooves
· Simplified drum grooves in the style of famous songs — not exact transcriptions.
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Tempo
- 141–141 BPM
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Loop
- 4 bars
| Hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||||||
| Kick |
| Hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||||||
| Kick |
Each row is one drum, each column one step. Large dots are accents, small dots normal hits, faint dots ghost notes.
About this groove
The time is kept with straight 8th notes on the hi-hat. The kick plays on 1, 1&, 3& and 3a. The snare marks the backbeat on 2 and 4. Three ghost notes sit between the main hits — play them barely audible.
In our catalog it is used at 141 BPM.
Who plays what: notes per bar
| Cymbal hand | 8 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 5 |
| Kick foot | 4 |
| Kick notes without a cymbal | 1 |
The tricky spot is the one kick note that fall between cymbal strokes — practice hand and foot on their own there before playing the whole groove.
How to practice it
- Press Play and listen to a few loops while counting out loud: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.
- Lower the tempo to 85 BPM and play just the kick and snare along with the player.
- Add the hi-hat part. When the loop feels relaxed, move up to 115 BPM.
- Finally play the full groove at 141 BPM, then try it without the player.
- Keep ghost notes very quiet: hit them from just above the head, so the accents stand out.
- The syncopated kick notes are the tricky part — loop just the kick and hi-hat until they lock in.
Compared with the nearest groove
Compared with “Tage wie diese” (Die Toten Hosen, driving rock beat), this groove adds kick notes on 3a, leaves out the kick on 3 and adds 3 ghost notes — and it runs 1 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. driving rock beat →