Thrash beat: 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
- 212–212 BPM
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Loop
- 4 bars
| Open hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||||||
| Kick |
| High tom | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floor tom | ||||||||||||||||
| 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 quarter notes on the open hi-hat. The kick lands on every beat — the famous “four on the floor”. The snare accents fall on 1&, 2&, 3& and 4&. 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 212 BPM.
Who plays what: notes per bar
| Cymbal hand | 4 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 4 |
| Kick foot | 4 |
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 125 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 170 BPM.
- Finally play the full groove at 212 BPM, including the fill, then try it without the player.
- At this tempo, economy of motion matters: keep the sticks low and let them rebound.
Compared with the nearest groove
Compared with “Oye Como Va” (Santana, cha-cha groove), this groove adds kick notes on 2 and 4, adds snare accents on 1&, 2& and 3& and drops the snare on 2 and 4 — and it runs 88 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. cha-cha groove →