A tour of other styles

Disco puts the kick on all four beats. Reggae’s one drop leaves beat 1 empty and hits kick and snare together on beat 3.

Same pad, different music

With only three sounds and sixteen steps you can already sketch most of the styles you hear on the radio. What changes from one style to the next is mainly where the kick goes, where the snare goes, and how busy the hi-hat is. The tempo matters too: the same pattern can feel relaxed at 70 bpm and frantic at 140. Below are four grooves, each with its step numbers, so you can build them on the pads and compare them with the rock beat you already know.

Four on the floor

In four on the floor the bass drum plays every beat: steps 0, 4, 8 and 12. The name comes from the pedal-played bass drum, and the beat was popularised by disco in the 1970s. Most house and other electronic dance music still uses it. The snare or a hand clap usually stays on 2 and 4, and the hi-hat plays only on the "&"s, steps 2, 6, 10 and 14, often with the hi-hat opened so each stroke sizzles. The steady kick makes it easy to dance to, which is exactly its job.

The one drop

Reggae turns the rock beat inside out. In the one drop, beat 1 is left empty, the "one" is dropped, and the kick and snare hit together on beat 3, step 8. The snare is usually a click made by laying the stick across the drum and striking the rim, called a cross-stick. The hi-hat keeps eighth notes. The rhythm was popularised by Carlton Barrett, drummer for Bob Marley and the Wailers, though who created it is disputed. Because so little happens, the one drop feels slow and spacious even at moderate tempos.

Half-time and funk

A half-time feel keeps the tempo but moves the snare to beat 3 only, step 8, with the kick on beat 1. The hi-hat still plays eighths, so the song seems to slow to half speed while the pulse underneath carries on. Rock and metal bands use it to make a chorus or ending sound heavier. Funk goes the other way: sixteenth notes on the hi-hat, the snare on 2 and 4, and a kick that dodges around the beats on "e"s and "a"s, such as steps 0, 3 and 10. Funk drummers also play very soft snare strokes between the backbeats, called ghost notes, which the pad can only suggest because every step is one volume.

Try it

The pads below hold three of the grooves from the table. Play each one, then change it into one of the others using the table. Going from four on the floor to the one drop takes only a few clicks, which shows how much a single kick position changes the music.