Drum beat in the style of “Blinding Lights” — The Weeknd
Loading the 3D drum kit…
Practice
Sound
View
Song grooves
· Simplified drum grooves in the style of famous songs — not exact transcriptions.
The Weeknd’s 2019 synth-pop hit races along with an ’80s-style four-on-the-floor beat. At this tempo, keep the hi-hat relaxed.
- Tempo
- 171 BPM
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Groove
- four-on-the-floor beat
- Genre
- Pop
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Loop
- 4 bars
Drum pattern
| Open hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snare | ||||||||||||||||
| Kick |
| Open 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.
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.
About this groove
At about 171 BPM it has a fast tempo: one beat lasts 351 ms and a 4/4 bar takes 1.4 seconds. Use the tempo buttons to slow it down while you learn.
Practice plan
How it differs from similar beats
Compared with “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” (Eurythmics, pop beat with a four-on-the-floor kick), this groove plays off-beat 8ths on the cymbal instead of straight 8ths — and it runs 45 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) →
“Bad Guy” (Billie Eilish) uses exactly the same simplified pattern, 36 BPM slower — a good warm-up before this one. Bad Guy →
Other songs with the same four-on-the-floor beat
Similar drum beats
This is a simplified rhythm pattern in the style of “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, written for drum practice. It is not a transcription of the recording and contains no audio, lyrics or artwork. Drums3D is not affiliated with The Weeknd.