Trap drum patterns.

10 trap patterns at 140 BPM. Play one, change any step, take it to your DAW as MIDI.

Trap runs at 140 BPM but feels like 70, because the snare lands only once a bar, on beat three. That half-time frame leaves the first two beats open for the kick and the 808 to say something, and the hats fill the space above with eighths that break into sixteenth rolls when the bar wants tension. The grid below is set to the basic pattern; press play, then move a kick.

Basic. The half-time skeleton: kick on one, snare on three, hats in eighths.

Hat
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Hi-hat rolls. Same bones, with the hats bursting into sixteenths before the snare and the bar line.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Half-time with claps. Clap doubles the snare and a rim answers it, the way a slower trap verse sits.

Hat
Rim
Clap
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Sparse verse. One kick, one snare, hats only on the beats: room for the vocal.

Hat
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Busy chorus. Kicks on the a of one and the and of two, open hat into the snare, crash on one.

Crash
Open hat
Hat
Clap
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Two-bar bounce. Two bars so the kicks can answer each other; the second bar lands early.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Slow trap at 130. Ten BPM slower and the same shape leans back; the 808 gets a slide note on the a of three.

Hat
Rim
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Triplet hats. The hats swung to 62 for a bar so the rolls lurch toward the triplet feel every trap producer reaches for.

Hat
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

808 leads. The kick on one only; the 808 plays the rhythm on its own, including a note on the a of four that slides.

Hat
Clap
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

Fast trap at 160. Twenty faster and the same frame tightens: snare on three, kicks on one and the and of two, sixteenth hats.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
808
Kick

Drop a sound on any row to play it there.

Open in the drum sequencer →

How a trap beat is built

The kick and the 808

The snare on three

Hats in eighths

Then a variation: Hi‑hat rolls

Start with the snare on step 9, beat three, and nothing on beat two. Put the kick on step 1 and let the 808 copy it, since in trap the two are one instrument. The second kick goes on the and of two (step 8) and a third on the a of three (step 11), so the bass line tumbles toward the next bar instead of marching. Hats sit on every eighth, steps 1, 3, 5 and so on, with no swing: trap is straight, and its bounce comes from where the kicks fall, not from a shuffle. The 808 is the one row to keep short; a long note on every kick turns to mud.

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.

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Questions.

Why is the snare only on beat three?

Because the tempo is doubled. Count the bar at 70 instead of 140 and the snare is on two and four again, which is where every drummer puts it. The grid shows it once because a bar at 140 holds half as much.

How do I make hi-hat rolls on a 16-step grid?

Turn on consecutive sixteenths, four or eight in a row, right before the snare or the bar line. Faster rolls are thirty-second notes, which this grid doesn't draw; in your DAW, shorten the exported hat notes and duplicate them.

Should the 808 follow the kick exactly?

On the first pattern, yes. Once the kicks are right, take one or two 808 hits away or move one to a step with no kick, and the bass starts to speak on its own.

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.