Cha-cha groove: 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
- 124–124 BPM
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Loop
- 1 bar
| Hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-stick | ||||||||||||||||
| 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 quarter notes on the hi-hat. The kick plays on 1 and 3. The cross-stick accents fall on 2, 4 and 4&.
In our catalog it is used at 124 BPM.
Who plays what: notes per bar
| Cymbal hand | 4 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 3 |
| Kick foot | 2 |
Every kick lines up with a cymbal stroke, which makes this one of the easiest coordination patterns to start with.
How to practice it
- Press Play and listen to a few loops while counting out loud: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.
- Lower the tempo to 75 BPM and play just the kick and cross-stick along with the player.
- Add the hi-hat part. When the loop feels relaxed, move up to 100 BPM.
- Finally play the full groove at 124 BPM, then try it without the player.
- For the cross-stick, lay the stick across the snare and click the rim with the butt end.
Compared with the nearest groove
Compared with “Da Da Da” (Trio, straight pop beat), this groove adds snare accents on 4& and plays quarter notes on the cymbal instead of nothing — and it runs 6 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. straight pop beat →