House beat: drum pattern and how to play it
Loading the 3D drum kit…
Practice
Sound
View
Song grooves
· Simplified drum grooves in the style of famous songs — not exact transcriptions.
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Tempo
- 120–127 BPM
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Loop
- 1 bar
| Open hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clap | ||||||||||||||||
| 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 off-beat 8ths on the open hi-hat (only the “&” of each beat). The kick lands on every beat — the famous “four on the floor”. The clap marks the backbeat on 2 and 4.
In our catalog 5 songs use it, from 120 to 127 BPM.
Who plays what: notes per bar
| Cymbal hand | 4 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 2 |
| Kick foot | 4 |
| Kick notes without a cymbal | 4 |
The tricky spot is the 4 kick notes 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 75 BPM and play just the kick and snare along with the player.
- Add the open hi-hat part. When the loop feels relaxed, move up to 100 BPM.
- Finally play the full groove at 123 BPM, then try it without the player.
Compared with the nearest groove
Compared with “Could You Be Loved” (Bob Marley & The Wailers, rockers reggae beat), this groove adds snare accents on 2 and 4 and drops the snare on 3 — and it runs 20 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. rockers reggae beat →