Sangeet Yatra

Eighths and Sixteenths

The kick and snare say where the beat is. The hand on the hat says how finely the beat is divided — and changing only that turns one groove into three different feels.

One beat, three densities

Kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, all the way down. Only the hat changes. Play each for a minute and listen to what happens to the urgency.

The first feels wide, the second is the default rock feel, the third is busy and pushes. Nothing about the kick or snare moved.

Counting sixteenths

Say “one-ee-and-a, two-ee-and-a”. The numbers are the beats, the “&” is halfway, and the “e” and “a” are the sixteenths either side of it. Every syncopation on the next page is named by one of those four words.

Putting the kick between the beats

Once you can count sixteenths, the kick can leave the beat. Here it lands on 1, the “&” of 2 and the “&” of 3 — the pattern under a great deal of pop music.

And here it is on 1 and the “&” of 3 only, which leaves a big hole in the middle of the bar. Space is a choice, not a mistake.

Check yourself with the click. Turn on the pattern click under More. If the kick on an “&” drifts towards the next click, you are rushing the second half of the beat — the most common fault there is, and audible the moment a click is running.

Before you go on

  • Switch the hat between quarters, eighths and sixteenths without losing the backbeat
  • Count sixteenths out loud while playing eighths on the hat
  • Play the “&” of 2 kick pattern with the click on, cleanly

Next

Ghost notes and accents First beats