80 BPM
Drums
Bass
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4/4
Drag rhythmic values into up to 4 beat blocks per line to build a drum groove, or click a tile then click a block to place it — handy on a trackpad.
What this lesson teaches: Add the bass drum to create basic rock beats.
This is lesson 3 of 100 in RockBlocks Drum School, a free, stepwise course where each lesson adds one new idea to the one before it. The previous lesson, “Add the Backbeat,” covered add hits to beats 2 and 4. Next is Lesson 4, “Eighth-Note Hi-Hat.”
The A slot pattern is kick snare kick snare. The hi-hat still counts to 4 and so do you. The kick is on 1 and 3 and the snare is on 2 and 4. The other beats are fun too. Learn all four and combine in stacks.
If we wanted to, we could think of this slot A beat in 2/4 instead of 4/4. The first number is the number of beats, and the second is what gets the beat. So 2/4 means the measure is equal to 2 quarter notes. 4/4 means the beat is equal to 4 quarter notes. Thinking in 2/4 the kick would be on 1, the snare on 2, and the hi-hats on 1 & 2.
Practicing on a real kit or a pad? Start slower and work up to the lesson's 80 BPM with the free metronome's speed trainer.