10 Basic Drum Beats Every Drummer Should Know (+Audio & Charts!)

• Learn ten essential drum beats and variations
• Check out our examples and charts
• Also, check out our post on rhythmic instruments!

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Are you trying to learn universal beats to serve you in your drumming career but are getting overwhelmed with all of the tabs on Songster and Ultimate Guitar?!

It can all be pretty overwhelming when looking at new grooves for the first time. So let’s remove the fills and transitional material and focus on the core of the thing.

In this article, we are going to:

• Check out 10 basic drum beats and variations that everyone should know
• Give you play-along tracks to help you get a feel for each groove 
• Offer up some tips and tricks on how to make them swing (figuratively speaking, of course. That is, unless we’re talking about the jazz groove!)

Know Your Grooves!

1. The Basic Rock Beat
2. The Two Beat
3. The Iconic Swing Beat
4. The Shuffle
5. The Waltz
6. Bo-Diddley (aka son Clave) 
7. The Ballad Beat in 3 (12/8 + 6/8)
8. The Ska Beat
9. The Sixteen Note Beat
10. Four on the Floor / The Disco Beat

Before we dive in, remember that even if you’re not a drummer, it’s still worth sticking around! Producers should know these beats (and then some) to help their clients achieve the sound they want in the studio.

Know your grooves, even if you’re programming them into a drum machine. 

1. The Basic Rock Beat (BPM – 65-150) 

I can easily recall the first time I sat down at a kit. Oddly enough, it was in an orchestral percussion class. My professor welcomes me to the set, saying ‘Play your version of a basic rock beat!”. 

Immediately my heart started racing- I knew the sound I wanted. Still, I couldn’t conceptualize the boom-chick boom-chick ss-ss-ss-ss… especially in front of my classmates, which included professional percussionists…. That brings me to our first groove. Needless to say, this is usually the first beat you learn. 

Comparable to the guitar’s ‘GCDF’ tunes, you can play countless songs with this bit alone. The basic rock beat typically has snare on 2 and 4, and eight notes on cymbals (usually closed hi-hat).

Easily accessible to beginners, this beat helps you start isolating the core shell of the bass drum foot vs. your hands. Starting with this boom-chick can be very helpful to put some of the beat ‘on the back burner in your mind.’

At least, that’s how I like to think about it. The running eighths on the hi-hat can be particularly difficult to isolate from the 1 and 3 of the bass drum. 

Song Examples

2. The Two Beat (BPM – Around 135)

The two beat is a bit of a variation on the basic rock beat, with kick and snare, sometimes hi-hat too, on the quarter note.

It can be just the “boom-chick, boom-chick” with no cymbals, bells, or whistles, or can incorporate ride, hi-hat, etc., on quarter notes.

You’ll hear the two beats in quite a few pop tunes. This is also the basis for, like, every punk drum tune ever. (I’m being a bit facetious here, of course). 

One of my instructors once told me to learn things ‘in kernels,’ which really stuck with me. The two-beat is an excellent kernel to start with and add on to later down the line.

If you think about it, the basic rock beat above is just a two-beat with a hi-hat on running eighth notes. 

This one is easy to make go. But the problem is, once you get going, things may start to feel funny between your right hand and foot. Be careful to give enough space between the shell of the beat.

This beginner beat is a great way to find where to sit on the stool- Which is way more important than you think, especially when kick-drum-heavy tunes start to show up.

Song Examples 

• Michael Sembello – Maniac
• Jax – Cinderella Snapped

3. The Iconic Swing Beat (BPM – Around 120)

Side note: If you’re used to reading swing rhythms, it’ll look like the top picture. If you’re used to reading classical rep, it’d look more syncopated and complex. It’s harder to read, so we play swung eights.

This “tsss-ts-ts-tsss tsss” is quintessential and can be heard in countless jazz tunes. This beat is usually swung on the ride cymbal, with an accent/emphasis on the first eight note in each set.  

If you’re new to jazz beats, don’t let the swung eighths get too rigid. Later, most drummers mix this up by splitting up the main rhythm between different instruments, such as the snare and ride, creating almost a melodic sound between the two.

Starting with the hi-hat pedal on 2 and 4 is a good way to get settled in before adding the swinging rhythm up top. 

Swingin’ can be extremely difficult to pull off well on electronic kits like mine. Get an acoustic set if you’re planning on becoming a jazz artist. 

Oftentimes, the hi-hat gets the backbeat when this groove is juiced up a bit more. 

Song Example

4. The Shuffle (BPM – 80-120)

Side note: This is an example of a basic rock shuffle. Rock shuffles usually emphasize the second macro beat in the measure. The beat is also occasionally written in 4/4 instead of 12/8. (or inverse)

This universal type of beat often has a heavy, head-nod-worthy vibe. But there are almost as many variations of shuffles as there are genres of music! Jazz shuffles, rock shuffles, and blues shuffles are the most common. 

If you don’t know what a shuffle is…Yes, you actually do! Think Blues…BOOM-boom Katz! (Or Boom-boom chick ba-boom-boom chick like the notation above).

The shuffle has a distinct eight-note triplet feel. There are 6/8 shuffles, 12/8 shuffles…endless, endless shuffles! When first getting into triplet shuffles, pay extra attention to the skipped middle triplet in the set- it’s easy to barrel through it, getting you off track accidentally. 

Another big subtype you should know is the Texas Blues Shuffle, which has that Stevie-Ray-Vaughn-type feel.

Song Examples

• The Black Keys – Gold on the Ceiling
• Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble – Pride and Joy

5. The Waltz (BPM – 84-96) 

The oom-pah-pah (BASS-snare-snare) waltz is a ballroom-dance feeling beat found in tons of classical music, like The Blue Danube, but also has made its way into movie music and folk music. 

To help get the beat started, reduce the waltz to the kick and snare ‘shell’ before adding the eight notes. Play this kernel until it is comfy, circular, and smooth.

I prefer feeling it in 1 rather than 3. You can also play with the dynamics on this one, making beats 2 and 3 much gentler than beat 1. It’s easy to rush waltzes as a song progresses, so make sure to reign in your tempo.

It’s worth noting that there are two types of waltzes: 6/8 and 3/4 waltzes. Often, 6/8 jazz waltzes incorporate brushes rather than wooden sticks. 

Song Examples

• Dmitri Shostakovich – Waltz No. 2
• Fleet Foxes – Sun It Rises
  
• Strauss – The Blue Danube

6. Bo-Diddley (aka son Clave) (BPM – Around 100-120)

Unlike many of the above beats, this is usually a 2-bar pattern. Bo Diddley was an early rock drummer and cigar-box guitarist who popularized the syncopated 3-2 salsa/ son clave beat.

You might see it written either way, so it may be sneakily hidden in your rep. The Bo-Diddley beat can be found in both rock/blues guitar music and drum beats. I love this one because it has that classic, old-time feel. 

In context, it may look like this, hidden in the accents on the toms. What looks commonplace on the page ends up being quite spicy! The challenge here is to make the accents loud enough so that you can actually hear the rhythm.  

There are many ways to place the Bo Diddley beat on the kit. And like the other beats, be sure to lock in this base rhythm first before adding anything else. It feels different than other rock beats because the origin of it is Cuban. 

Sometimes, the hi-hat pedal comes in on the backbeat. Other times, there’s no pedal, and the bass drum plays the rhythm, reiterating the accents on the hi-hat.

Another popular variation, the “Rosanna” shuffle, combines the shuffle and the Bo-Diddley. You can also play this beat with a 4-on-the-floor kick.

Song Examples

• U2 – Desire
• The Strangeloves – I Want Candy
• KT Tunstall – Black Horse And The Cherry Tree 

7. The Ballad Beat in 3 (12/8 & 6/8) (BPM – 65-100)

Do you want to serenade your sweetheart? Then you better check out some ballad-type beats. 

These 12/8 and 6/8 grooves are standard in slower pop, jazz, and rock love songs. Heck, even the Misfits used it. They’re kind of cheesy, but you can’t help but love them.

For the 12/8, you get a heart-beat like iteration between the second and third set of eight notes. The beat in 6 feels more effortless, whereas the version in 12 is bluesy.

There are also sixteenth-note ballads in common time, but I often run into these in 6 and 12. Oftentimes, these beats are played with eights on the ride.

When playing, I think of the first kick as lasting a whole measure or as the whole measure in 1. If you parse out each beat, it can feel really clunky. You can think of the 12/8 as having a grouping of 4 if it helps. 

The beat variation in some tunes is shuffle-y, like in the first example below. 

Song Examples

• Misfits – Saturday Night
• The Beatles – Oh! Darling

8. The Basic Ska Beat (BPM – 80+)

Reggae and Ska (as well as the occasional rock song!) often use this basic beat. The ska beat looks deceivingly easy on the page. 

Spend extra time isolating the offbeat work on the hi-hat. Otherwise, it’ll be too hard to speed up, and the eighth note might try and creep up to beat one.

To add more, do open hi-hat on the first offbeat and closed on the second to get that ‘boots and cats!’

To make it even more interesting, some folks and a sixteenth note tidbit in the middle, like this.

Song Examples

• Sublime – Santeria
• Rancid – Time Bomb

9. The Sixteen Note Beat (BPM – 148ish)

In my mind, I always think of this one as the “Mr. Brightside” beat. This one is popular in rock and pop-rock, and it’s more difficult to speed up than you might initially anticipate.

Unfortunately, there are no real hacks or shortcuts to getting the sixteenth note beat to ~150. Use a metronome, and just start with the hi-hat. 

10. Four on the Floor / The Disco Beat (BPM – 120-140s)

Found in loads of genres, this beat became popular in the disco era (the 1970s) and has roots in Brazilian samba music.

Nowadays, people call four-on-the-floor anything with 4 consecutive kicks in a row (in 4/4 time). So, four-on-the-floor and disco aren’t always synonymous. 

The kicker (Hah! Get it?) with this one is to ensure that your bass drum is even and sturdy since the quarter notes never stop. 

Some musician spice up the hi-hat by opening it up on the offbeats. 

Song Examples

FAQs

What Is A Backbeat?

This is when the snare is on 2 and 4, and the kick drum is on 1 and 3. Then again, there’s another layer to this. Have you ever heard of ‘playing on the backbeat’? 

Jazzers often play on the backbeat (2 and 4) by closing the hi-hat with the foot pedal. You can play on the backbeat on other instruments than snare and kick. That’s just what’s most common in popular music. 

Are All The Beats Found In Just Those Genres?

Absolutely not! A lot of the time, you hear rock beats with ska beats, pop ballads with the rock beat, trap beats in pop, and so on.

What Are Some Commonly Programmed Beats I Might Hear? 

• The Trap Beat
• The Boom-Bap (’80s-’90s)
• The Dem Bow

The trap beat, and boom-bap are surprisingly similar (but I won’t bore you by notating all those 32 notes and small rest). Both generally have light-footed running 32nd notes up top on the closed hi-hat.

The difference is that the boom-bap has much more irregular-feeling hits coming from the snare and bass.

Another music-know is the dem bow. Ed Sheeran’s “The Shape of You” made charts with the basic beat. This is a super popular beat among producers and originated in Puerto Rico. 

What Other, More Complex, or niche beats may I eventually encounter? 

• The ‘Wipe-Out’/ Surfer Beat 
• The Jazz Waltz
• Funk Grooves with ghost notes
• Double-Pedal Metal Beats 
• Other variations of shuffle, like the half-time shuffle, flat tire, hand-to-hand, etc.