Basic drum beats.

10 basic drum beats at 100 BPM. Play one, change any step, take it to your DAW as MIDI.

Almost every song you know sits on one of eight beats, and the first of them has a name: the money beat, kick on one and three, snare on two and four, hats in eighths. The rest are that beat with one thing changed, an extra kick, a faster hat, a snare moved to three. This page is the set, slowest to busiest, so you can hear what each change does before you build your own.

The money beat. Kick on one and three, snare on two and four, hats in eighths: the beat under half of all recorded music.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Kick on the and of three. The same beat with one more kick, which is the second thing every drummer learns.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Four on the floor. Kick on every beat, snare on two and four: the dance version.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Sixteenth hats. Closed hats on every sixteenth over the money beat: the same thing, busier on top.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Half-time. Snare on three only; the kick on one and the and of three. Slow without changing the tempo.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Open hat on the and of four. One open hat before the bar line, which tells the ear a new bar is coming.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Two bars with the easiest fill. Bar two ends with four snare sixteenths on beat four and a crash on the next one.

Crash
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Shuffled. The money beat on a twelve-step bar, hats on the first and third of every three: a shuffle, and nothing else moved.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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With the rim instead of the snare. The money beat with a cross-stick on two and four: the quiet version for a verse.

Hat
Rim
Kick

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Crash on one, two bars. Two bars of the money beat with a crash on the first downbeat: the smallest section marker.

Crash
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Open in the drum sequencer →

How a basic drum beat is built

The kick

The snare on two and four

Hats in eighths

Then a variation: Kick on the and of three

Kick on step 1 and step 9, snare on steps 5 and 13, a hat on every odd step. That is the money beat and it is complete; play it at 100 and don't touch it for a minute. The first change is a kick on step 11, the and of three, which pushes the second half of the bar. The second is kicks on every beat, steps 1, 5, 9 and 13, which turns it into a dance beat without moving the snare. Sixteenth hats are the same beat with the top filled in. Half-time keeps the kick on one and puts the single snare on step 9. The open hat on step 15 is the smallest change that tells a listener a bar is ending, and the two-bar pattern shows the easiest fill, four snare sixteenths on the last beat into a crash. The shuffle is the money beat moved to a twelve-step bar, three steps to a beat, with the hats on the first and third of each three; the kick and snare stay where they were.

More drum patterns

The beat you want is in a song you’re playing.

DOT records anything your Mac plays, with its BPM, so you can loop the part and program it here.

DOT Audio Recorder

Free to try · $49 once · macOS 14.4 or later

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Questions.

What is the most common drum beat?

Kick on one and three, snare on two and four, hi-hat on every eighth note, at anywhere from 80 to 140 BPM. Drummers call it the money beat because it is the one that gets them paid. It is the first pattern on this page.

Which beat should a beginner program first?

The money beat, then the version with the kick on the and of three. Everything else on this page and the genre pages is one of those two with a hat, a snare or a kick moved.

Why does changing one hit change the whole feel?

Because a beat is a shape, not a list of sounds. Move the snare from two and four to three and the same tempo feels half as fast; put a kick on every beat and the same song becomes something to dance to. Try each change alone before combining them.

More free tools

All free tools →

Drum sequencer

Program a beat on a 16-step grid.

Drum pad

16 pads on your keyboard, your own sounds too.

Metronome

A steady click, and a click track to download.