Eighths and Sixteenths
The kick and snare say where the beat is. The hand on the hi-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 hi-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, three-ee-and-a, four-ee-and-a”. The numbers are the beats, the “&” is halfway, and the “e” and “a” are the sixteenths on either side of it. A faint line starts each beat, so those four words stay in one box. Any hit on this page is one of those four words. Read the column, say the word, play it.
Each of the four can be a hit or a rest, and the hi-hat, the snare and the kick each choose for themselves. That is the whole pile of sixteenth grooves: not a list to memorize, a grid to read. The ones below are the columns on their own, then the combinations that keep turning up. Type 60 in the BPM box. At 90 the “e” and the “a” rush.
Right hand on the hi-hat, left foot holding the pedal down. Kick and snare stay put — right foot on 1 and 3, left hand on 2 and 4 — so the only thing that moves is which column the hi-hat takes.
The four places
On the number. This is the click. The other three words are rests: say them, and the hi-hat waits.
On the “e”, the column just after the number. It feels early, because the click has only just happened.
On the “&”, halfway to the next beat. This is the same place an eighth note lands. The “e” and the “a” are what the eighth does not have.
On the “a”, the last column of the box, just before the line that starts the next beat. It leans forward. A kick on the “a” of 3, further down, is this same column.
The ones you meet
The front half of the beat: the number and the “e”. The “&” and the “a” stay empty. Two quick notes, then a gap.
The back half: the “&” and the “a”. The number itself is a rest, which is why this one is harder. Say the number anyway. If the hi-hat drifts onto it, you have lost the beat.
The number and the “a”, with a hole in the middle. The “a” is a pickup into the next beat: you play it, and the next number arrives at once.
The gallop: number, “&” and “a”, and the “e” is the rest. A long note, then two short ones. Say “one-and-a”. The snare plays this same shape on Grooves by style.
The gallop turned round: number, “e” and “&”, and the “a” is the rest. Two short notes, then a long one. It runs the other way.
Everything except the number. “e”, “&” and “a”, and the click is silent in the hi-hat. The kick and the snare are now the only things on the beat, so listen for them.
A kick on the “a” of 3
Find beat 3, the third box. The “a” is its last column, the one just before the line that starts 4. Here the right foot plays that column and nothing else. The hi-hat is back on the eighths, so the grid stays easy to count while you hunt for the one kick.
Now put the kick on 1 as well. Beat 1 starts the bar, and the “a” of 3 pushes into 4. Same column as the hi-hat pattern above. The right foot just changed seats.
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.
How many kicks in one beat
A beat has four words: number, “e”, “&”, “a”. The kick can take two of them, or three, or all four. The same shape is in every beat here, so the number is the only thing that changed. Hi-hat on the eighths, snare on 2 and 4.
Two, at the front of the beat. The number and the “e”. The “&” and the “a” stay empty.
Two, at the back. The “&” and the “a”, and the number itself is a rest. The foot plays, and the click is empty.
Three. The number, the “&” and the “a”, and the “e” is the rest. A long note, then two short ones. The snare already played this shape.
Four. Every word. This is as full as one beat gets. If it turns into a buzz, the foot is no longer landing on the words.
The same place, in every beat: the “a”, and never the number. Four kicks in the bar, one in each beat, all of them just before the next click.
The snare leaves 2 and 4
2 and 4 are the usual seat. They are not the only one. The kick stays on 1 and 3, and the hi-hat stays on the eighths, so the snare is the only thing that moved.
Half time. The snare moves to 3, and 2 and 4 are empty. The bar feels twice as long.
Two snares in one beat. On 2, and again on the “a” of 2, then the usual one on 4. The second hit pushes into 3.
Off 2 and 4 entirely. The snare sits on the “&” of 2 and the “&” of 4. If it drifts back onto the number, it got early.
On every number, with the kick. 1, 2, 3 and 4. That is a march. The backbeat is gone because nothing is waiting for 2 and 4.
Four snares in one beat. Beat 4 is all snare, and 2 is still the backbeat. That full beat is a fill. More of those are on Fills.
Try your own
The grooves above are a few of the places. This grid is yours. Click a mark to put it in or take it out. Hi-hat, snare and kick each decide, and the staff follows. Press ▶. Try a number you have not heard yet.
A button changes the line it names and leaves the others. Backbeat puts all three back.
Before you go on
- Switch the hi-hat between quarters, eighths and sixteenths without losing the backbeat
- Count sixteenths out loud while playing eighths on the hi-hat
- Play the hi-hat on the “e”, the “&” and the “a”, each on its own, and name the word
- Play a kick with the right foot on the “a” of 3, and nowhere else in the bar
- Play two kicks in one beat, then three, then four, and say the words
- Move the snare off 2 and 4 — onto 3, or onto an “&” — and keep the count
- In the grid at the bottom, change one mark and play what you wrote
- Play the “&” of 2 kick pattern with the click on, cleanly