Country drum patterns.

7 country patterns at 120 BPM. Play one, change any step, take it to your DAW as MIDI.

Country drums stay out of the way of the song. The basic beat is the one everyone learns, kick on one and three, snare on two and four, and the genre's own patterns are small moves from it: the train beat's chugging snare, the two-step's shuffle, the boom-chicka of the faster tunes, and the half-time ballad. Played simply and in time, which is the whole brief in Nashville.

Basic. Kick on one and three, snare on two and four, hats in eighths: the beat under most of Nashville.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Train beat. Snare on every eighth with the rim on the sixteenths between, kick on one and three: the chug.

Hat
Rim
Snare
Kick

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Two-step shuffle. On the twelve-step bar: kick on one and three, rim on two and four, hats shuffling: the dance hall.

Hat
Rim
Kick

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Boom-chicka. Kick on the beats, hats in eighths with the open one on the and of four, rim on two and four.

Open hat
Hat
Rim
Kick

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Country rock. The basic beat with a kick on the and of three and a crash on one.

Crash
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Ballad. Half-time at 72: snare on three, kick on one and the and of three, ride in eighths.

Ride
Snare
Kick

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Two bars, snare pickup. Bar two ends with a snare on the and of four into the crash.

Crash
Hat
Snare
Kick

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How a country beat is built

The kick

The snare on two and four

Hats in eighths

Then a variation: Train beat

Kick on steps 1 and 9, snare on 5 and 13, hats on the eighths, 120 BPM, straight: the basic beat. The train beat at 130 puts the snare on every eighth with the rim filling the sixteenths between, kick on one and three, so the snare chugs like the wheels. The two-step at 110 moves to a twelve-step bar, three steps to a beat, with the hats shuffling on the first and third of each three and a rim on two and four instead of the snare, for the dance hall. Boom-chicka at 150 has the kick on every beat, hats in eighths with the open hat on step 15, and the rim on two and four. Country rock adds a kick on the and of three and a crash on one. The ballad is half-time at 72 with the snare on step 9 and the ride on the eighths. The two-bar pattern ends with a snare on the and of four as the pickup into the crash.

More drum patterns

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

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Questions.

What tempo is country?

Ballads at 65 to 80 in half-time, mid-tempo songs at 100 to 125, two-steps at 105 to 115 with a shuffle, trains and fast tunes at 130 to 160. The grid opens at 120.

What is a train beat?

A snare played in constant eighths or sixteenths with accents on two and four, so it sounds like a train on tracks, usually with brushes. The grid writes it as snare eighths with the rim on the sixteenths between.

Snare or rim?

Rim (cross-stick) for verses, two-steps and ballads, where a full snare is too loud for the vocal; snare head for choruses and anything with a crash. Most of the patterns here use one or the other for that reason.

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.