Drum beat in the style of “Funky Drummer” — James Brown
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Song grooves
· Simplified drum grooves in the style of famous songs — not exact transcriptions.
Clyde Stubblefield’s 1970 break with James Brown is one of the most sampled drum patterns ever. The magic is in the ghost notes on the snare and the loose 16th-note hi-hat.
- Tempo
- 100 BPM
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Genre
- Funk
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Loop
- 1 bar
Drum pattern
| Open hi-hat | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 16 |
|---|---|
| Snare hand | 6 |
| Kick foot | 4 |
The kick always lines up with the cymbal, so the work is in the snare hand: 4 of its 6 notes are ghost notes.
About this groove
At about 100 BPM it has a medium tempo: one beat lasts 600 ms and a 4/4 bar takes 2.4 seconds. Use the tempo buttons to slow it down while you learn.
Practice plan
Step-by-step breakdown of the funk groove with ghost notes →
How it differs from similar beats
Compared with “Brick House” (Commodores, 16th-note funk groove), this groove adds 1 ghost note and opens the hi-hat — and it runs 7 BPM slower. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. Brick House →
“Chameleon” (Herbie Hancock) uses exactly the same simplified pattern, 4 BPM slower — a good warm-up before this one. Chameleon →
Other songs with the same funk groove with ghost notes
Similar drum beats
This is a simplified rhythm pattern in the style of “Funky Drummer” by James Brown, written for drum practice. It is not a transcription of the recording and contains no audio, lyrics or artwork. Drums3D is not affiliated with James Brown.