Chapter 13 of 13 · All chapters

Part 1 · Rhythm basics

  1. 01The beat and tempo
  2. 02Bars, beats and 16 steps
  3. 03Kick, snare and hi-hat

Part 2 · Your hands on the pads

  1. 04The 16-pad layout
  2. 05Which fingers play what
  3. 06Tap, don't press

Part 3 · Grooves

  1. 07The basic beat
  2. 0816th hats and finger rolls
  3. 09Syncopation
  4. 10Fills

Part 4 · Feel and style

  1. 11Accents and ghost notes
  2. 12Swing
  3. 13Beats in different styles

Learn · Part 4: Feel and style · Chapter 13

Beats in different styles

You now know every building block. Genres are just different ways of putting them together: where the kick goes, how fast, how much swing. Here are five finger drumming patterns to play along with.

House

The kick plays on every beat ("four on the floor"), a clap on 2 and 4, and the open hat on every "&" gives house its lift. Keep the kick rock-steady; everything else dances around it.

122 BPM

Mute the kick and clap first: that's the left hand's steady job.

Boom-bap hip-hop

Slow, heavy and swung. The syncopated kick from chapter 9 meets a hard snare on 2 and 4. Leave space; boom-bap is as much about the gaps as the hits.

90 BPM

Swing pushes the kick on the "a" of 2 a little late. Copy that lazy feel when you play it.

Trap

Trap sits around 140 BPM but feels half as fast: the snare hits only once per bar, on beat 3. Fast hats with little rolls fill the space, and a sparse, bouncing kick drives it.

140 BPM

The hat roll at the end of the bar is a two-finger roll: Hat 1 and Hat 2 alternating.

Drum & bass

Fast and broken. The classic two-step beat puts the kick on 1 and the "&" of 3, with the snare on 2 and 4. At 170+ BPM it flies, so start around 130 and work up.

130 BPM

Real drum & bass runs at 170–175 BPM. Use + to get there once it's comfortable.

Hand drum groove

Finger drumming isn't only drum machines. Switch to hand percussion and the same skills play bass drum, djembe, conga and bongo. The parts answer each other instead of stacking on the beat, like a small percussion group.

94 BPM

Mute the bass and djembe and play their "conversation". Trade phrases on hand drums in Echo →

Where to go from here

Pick the style you love and play along with real tracks from it. Try to copy the drums you hear, starting with just the kick and snare. Record yourself, listen back, and keep sessions short and daily. The practice games are good for daily timing practice, and a pad controller is the next step when you want velocity and feel.