Let’s take this to the next level...

We’ll start out by analyzing the beat placement for a simple drum groove:

Audio Example 1

This should sound familiar; we worked through this drum groove in yesterday’s lesson. The hi-hat is playing quarter notes, the snare is on beats 2 and 4, and the kick drum is hitting beats 1, 3, and the “and” of beat 3. See Figure 1.

FIGURE 1

 

Over the above groove, the drums will now play accents with an open hi-hat. Listen to the following audio clips and identify the beat placement of those accents.

EXERCISE 1

 

See answer below.

EXERCISE 2

 

See answer below.

EXERCISE 3

 

See answer below.

EXERCISE 4

 

See answer below.

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ANSWERS:

 


Exercise 1:
The accent is on the “and” of beat 2.

Exercise 2:
The accents are on beat 1 and the “and” of beat 2. Extra credit for those of you who noticed the snare drum ghost notes on the “and” of beat 1 (in all but the first bar).

Exercise 3:
The accent is on the 16th-note immediately before beat 1 (the “a” of beat 4).

Exercise 4:
The accent is on the second 16th-note of beat 1 (the “ee” of beat 1).

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I encourage you to regularly spend time listening to drum loops or sequenced drum parts and identify the beat placement of each instrument (closed vs. open high-hat, kick, snare, toms, ride, crashes, etc.). Learn to identify common rhythmic figures, and be able to sing them over the top of drum grooves that might not be implying them (i.e., be able to sing a shuffled rhythm over a straight drum groove, or sing 8th- or 16th-note anticipations over loops that don’t have those pushes, etc.).