# Reading a groove

A column is a moment in time. Everything in one column happens together; columns
run left to right and loop back to the start.

## Marks

- `x` closed hat, ride or crash
- `o` open hat (left foot lifted, so it rings)
- `b` ride bell
- `o` on a drum row: kick, snare or tom
- `g` ghost note — a deliberately quiet stroke
- capital letter — an accent
- `-` a rest

A rest is not nothing; it is a column like any other. Skipping rests and playing
the marks back to back is the commonest reading mistake, and it turns a groove
into a rush.

## Counting

| Header | Say | Each column |
|---|---|---|
| 1 2 3 4 | one two three four | quarter |
| 1 & 2 & | one and two and | eighth |
| 1 & a | one-and-a | triplet |
| 1 e & a | one-ee-and-a | sixteenth |

## Basic rock beat, in eighths

    hat   x x x x x x x x
    snare - - o - - - o -
    kick  o - - - o - - -