# Two parts together

Until now you have played one part. Here you use two, a low stomp and a clap, and learn the single most useful fact in rhythm: the same beat feels completely different depending on where the parts land. It uses the eighth notes, sixteenth notes and off-beat hits you have just learned.

> Lesson 4 of 12.
>
> - You learn: To do two different things in one bar, a low stomp and a clap, and to hear how moving them changes the feel.
> - Why now: Until now you have played one part. Real rhythm is several parts at once, and every grid after this has more than one row. It uses what you have just learned: eighth notes for the ticking row, and sixteenths with an off-beat stomp for half-time.
> - You need: Lessons 1 to 3.

## How to read two rows

Each row is one part. A dot in a column means do that part on that count. Do both rows together. The stomp is your foot on the floor (or a low drum) and the clap is your hands; the sounds you hear are drum sounds standing in for them. Playing them on a real drum kit is what the Drums room is for.

For each pattern, press ▶ and tap the count 1 2 3 4 on your knee with the click until it is steady. Then clap the dots of each part while you keep tapping.

## Backbeat

**Backbeat**

    Clap     . x . x
    Stomp    x . x .

In notation: each row has its own line, stacked, so the clap and the stomp line up exactly. The first note of Clap is not on the first beat, so the line begins with a quarter rest, the squiggle. A rest is silence that lasts as long as the note it replaces. Read the two lines together and you see the stomp and clap taking turns.

1. Tap 1 2 3 4 on your knee with the click until it is steady.
2. Keep tapping and stomp your foot on 1 and 3 (the Stomp row). Nothing on 2 and 4 yet.
3. Now clap on 2 and 4 only (the Clap row).
4. Do both together: stomp, clap, stomp, clap. That is the beat behind most rock and pop.

## Four on the floor

**Four on the floor**

    Tick     x x x x x x x x
    Clap     . . x . . . x .
    Stomp    x . x . x . x .

1. Press play. The top row, Tick, is the eighth notes from lesson 2: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Leave it as a background tick.
2. Keep the clap exactly where it was: 2 and 4.
3. Change only the stomp. Stomp on every beat: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. Hear how it turns from rock into dance music. You changed one thing.

## Half-time

Half-time is built in sixteenth notes (1 e & a, from lesson 2), so each beat has four columns. The top row, Tick, plays the eighth notes (every other column) to keep time; ignore it at first. The second stomp lands on the & after 2, an off-the-beat hit like the ones in lesson 3.

**Half-time**

    Tick     x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x .
    Clap     . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . .
    Stomp    x . . . . . x . . . . . . . . .

1. Start from the backbeat you already know: tap the count, stomp on 1 and 3, clap on 2 and 4. Do it once through.
2. Take the claps away. Tap the beat and say 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a slowly, at the same speed as before.
3. Clap only on 3. Just one clap in the whole bar.
4. Stomp on 1, and once more on the & after 2 (say “1 e & a, 2 e & a”, and stomp on that second &).
5. The bar now feels twice as long, though you did not slow down. That is half-time.

> What this showed: the beat never changed. Only where the stomp and the clap fall changed, and each placement made a different style. That is what the rest of the ladder is about: the same steady beat, with hits placed in more and more interesting places.

## Self-check

- Stomp on 1 and 3 and clap on 2 and 4 with the click, without looking
- Change only the stomp to every beat, keeping the clap where it was
- Say which of backbeat, four on the floor and half-time you are hearing, with the grid hidden

## Play it on your instrument

- Drums: Stomp is the kick, clap is the snare, and the tick row is the hi-hat. Backbeat, four on the floor, then half-time. (Build it one limb at a time, Four on the floor, Half-time)
- Guitar: Strum on the stomp beats (1 and 3) and play the clap beats (2 and 4) harder or muted. (Strumming: accents and the backbeat example)
- Ukulele: Strum on the stomp beats and chop the clap beats (2 and 4). (Strumming: accents and the backbeat example)
- Bass: Your low note is the stomp. Land it with the kick drum. (Grooves: lock with the kick)

All instruments: apply.html