Phrases on the Kit

Most people can clap a cheer or a joke's punchline before they have touched a drum. These are the short ones the Rhythm room calls Phrases, set on the kit: say the words, then find where each one lands. The hits are written exactly as the Rhythm room lists them; the kit only decides which drum plays which part.

Two, four, six, eight

Two bars. In the first the numbers land one to a beat, which is the snare on every beat. In the second the question runs twice as fast, who do we ap-pre-ci-ate, seven eighths and then silence. The silence is the crowd's answer. Keep the kick on 1 and 3 and let the snare carry the words.

Ba-dum-tss

The joke's answer: two snare hits and a crash, then nothing. Hit the crash and let it ring for the groan. The spacing varies from drummer to drummer, and the second hit is often a rimshot or a kick; the three hits are always there.

Stomp, stomp, clap

The kit's simplest groove: kick, kick, snare, and a beat of nothing. The empty fourth beat is what makes it a bar of four and not a count of three. It is also the shape of Queen's We Will Rock You, played on a kit instead of by a stadium.

Stadium clap

The shout asks and five claps answer: clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. Here the kick is the shout (four beats of it, the team's words) and the snare is the claps. The last three are eighths, so keep the right hand relaxed and let the stick bounce.

Beethoven's Fifth

Three short notes and a long one, beginning with a rest. Snare on the short ones and a crash for the long one, held across the whole next beat. Count the silent first eighth out loud, or the three short notes will fall a beat early.

Seven Nation Army

A riff, not a groove, so it goes on the floor tom with the hat keeping the quarters. Two bars: a long note and a short one, a falling run, then two long notes that fill the second bar. The sixteenth grid is only there so the short notes land in the right place.