In the service of teaching theory using real music, I’ve been gathering musical simples: little phrases and loops that are small enough to be easily learned, and substantial enough to have expressive value. See some representative melodic simples, more melodic simples, and compound simples. This post showcases some representative rhythmic simples, more commonly known as beats, grooves, or drum patterns. They’re listed in increasing order of syncopation, also known as hipness. Click each image to hear the interactive Noteflight score.
The basis of “Billie Jean” and many other great beats.
James Brown grooves tend to be complex, but this one is pretty approachable. The kick and snare do a boom-boom-bap, b-boom-boom bap that will be familiar to anyone who’s ever heard a rap song.
Hip-hop and electronica producers love Led Zeppelin for two reasons: the drums are recorded beautifully and produced imaginatively, and John Bonham is funkier than your average rock drummer. Most rock patterns have a kick right on beat three, the second-strongest beat in the bar. Bonzo shifts his third hit a sixteenth note earlier, to an exceedingly weak beat. The double kick drum from the beginning is repeated in the second half of the bar, but displaced an eighth note later. Hip stuff.
An archetypal Afro-Cuban pattern that’s in wide use in many other world musics as well. Some its many rich internal symmetries are visible in the notation.
Bembé (a.k.a. the standard bell pattern)
This pattern, like many of its cousins, has an ambiguous meter. I wrote it here as being three-based, but you could just as easily think of it as being four-based. There is no “correct” interpretation; you’re supposed to feel both metrical schemes at once.
James Brown beats are complex on the page, while still sounding effortlessly natural. The best way to learn this one is to slow it way down and figure it out by ear. The first time I ever saw this beat notated was when I transcribed it a few days ago.
A good way to make a hot hip-hop beat is to have a simple hi-hat and snare pattern with a complex kick drum underneath it. This OutKast classic combines hi-hats on every sixteenth note and snares on the backbeats with a wildly syncopated and unpredictable kick pattern. The laid-back tempo gives your ear time to parse things out, rather than being overwhelmed with information.
Snare drums and claps usually do the same job, which is to accent the backbeat. “Sucker MCs” has the snare and the clap playing off each other, trading off stronger and weaker beats, only coinciding once in the entire pattern. Also, aside from a crash on the first downbeat, there are no cymbals. This another one of those rhythms that looks bewildering but flows just fine out of the speakers.
No one part of this pattern is terribly complicated. The kick and snare do a straightforward boom-bap, with hi-hats on every eighth. The conga pattern has more complexity to it, but the real life of this groove comes from the interaction between all the sounds.
This beat is a tough one to wrap your mind around, and not just because of the fast tempo. The first two bars are straightforward funk, but starting in the third bar, the pattern destabilizes, with the last snare hit displaced an eighth note. In the fourth bar, all hell breaks loose. There’s no kick on the downbeat, and the accents tumble unpredictably from there. Once you get the beat into your ear, it makes good sense, but it takes many repetitions to get there. Thank god for drum machines and loop players.