Jungle tom 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
- 12/8
- Tempo
- 190–190 BPM
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Loop
- 4 bars
| Floor tom | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick |
| High tom | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floor tom | ||||||||||||
| 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
There is no cymbal keeping time — the groove lives on the drums alone. The kick lands on every beat — the famous “four on the floor”. The loop is 4 bars long, and the fourth bar ends with a short fill around the toms.
In our catalog it is used at 190 BPM.
Who plays what: notes per bar
| Cymbal hand | 0 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 0 |
| 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 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a.
- Lower the tempo to 115 BPM and play just the kick and snare along with the player.
- Add the remaining parts one at a time. When the loop feels relaxed, move up to 150 BPM.
- Finally play the full groove at 190 BPM, including the fill, then try it without the player.
- Think in groups of three: every beat is split into a triplet “1-&-a”.
- At this tempo, economy of motion matters: keep the sticks low and let them rebound.
Compared with the nearest groove
Compared with “Take the "A" Train” (Duke Ellington, jazz swing groove), this groove adds kick notes on 1, 2, 3 and 4 — and it runs 20 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. jazz swing groove →