If you play the groove slowly, it’ll act as a foot exercise to work on foot speed. There are a few repeating kicks here that will give the groove a very dense low-end sound. Beat 4īeat 4 will test your leg endurance. So, I’d say this is a great groove to lay a foundation of offbeat ideas with.Īnd since it’s so popular, you’ll probably be able to use this beat with some of your favorite radio tunes. Playing that may take a while to get used to, but you’ll feel ready to expand even further once you’re used to it. The bass drum falls on the offbeat before the second snare drum. Producers seem to love it and add it into as many songs as they can. I recently saw a video on YouTube where a drummer pointed out how often this groove is used in pop music. When playing the groove, make sure that you kick the bass drum fairly hard to give the groove a strong driving feel. I’ve also found this to be one of the main beats I play when drumming in church. Playing all the quarter notes on the bass drum is typically referred to as playing “four-on-the-floor”.įour-on-the-floor grooves are quite common in pop and dance music. You only add two more notes, but it completely changes the vibe of the groove. The next groove to learn is a slight variation of the basic rock beat. Your right hand will be playing 8 th notes on the hi-hat all the way through.
When learning to play the groove, just remember that your snare drum lands on beats 2 and 4 while the kick drum lands on 1 and 2. It’s the most used beat in the world, meaning it’s vitally important that you learn and develop it in the fundamental years of your drumming. I’ve most probably used this beat at least once in every gig I’ve ever played. The great thing about it is that you will never stop playing it.
This groove is the first thing everyone learns to play on the drums, arguably making it one of the easiest beats out there. Here lies the holy grail of drumming, the basic rock beat.