The hip hop skeleton: kick on 1, snare on 2 and 4, ghosts in the gaps
This is the skeleton almost every hip hop beat is hung on: kick on beat 1, snare on beats 2 and 4, and a second kick landing just after beat 3 (the "and of 3") to push the bar forward. The snares are the loudest thing in the pattern (0.95-1.0) with a quiet clap glued underneath the beat-4 backbeats so the second half of each bar hits harder than the first. Between those big hits sit ghost snares at 0.25-0.35 on the "a" of beats 2, 3 and 4 — you barely hear them as notes, you hear them as a shuffle, and they're what keeps the loop breathing instead of marching. Swing is set to 22, which drags every off-16th late; that's why the closed hats on the "a" positions and the ghost snares lean back behind the beat rather than sitting square on it. Listen for the open hat on the "and of 4" in bar 1 and the extra kick on the "and of 4" in bar 2: those two moments are the bar-turn signals that stop a two-bar loop from sounding like the same bar twice.
Play it yourself
- Hit play, then mute everything except pads 1 (kick) and 3 (snare) — that bare 1 / 2-and-4 skeleton is the whole genre in two sounds. Bring the hats back in after a bar or two and hear how little they actually change.
- Push swing from 22 up toward 35-40 and the same notes turn drunk and Dilla-ish; drop it to 0 and it goes stiff and boom-bap-less. Nothing but the timing of the odd-numbered steps has moved.
- Move the second kick of bar 1 off step 10 (the 'and of 3') to step 11 or step 8, and re-record the ghost snares on pad 3 at velocity 0.3 wherever your hand wants them — that one kick and those ghosts are where your beat stops being a template and starts being yours.
The pattern above is already loaded and fully editable. Press Space to hear it, open EDIT to see every hit on the step grid, then drag steps to change velocity or nudge them off the grid. When you have made it yours, press SHARE to copy a link that rebuilds your version exactly.
More rhythms
- The Jungle Break: Syncopated Snares at 172172 BPM
- Boom Bap at 90 BPM: the dusty backbeat90 BPM
- Dilla-style drunk swing87 BPM
- Four on the Floor124 BPM
- The Full House Groove: Four on the Floor, Offbeat Hats and a Rolling Shaker124 BPM
- The Dembow Riddim96 BPM
- Trap Hi-Hats: 8ths, 32nd Bursts and a Triplet Turnaround140 BPM
Try another kit
- Boom Bap drum machine88-94 BPM
- Trap drum machine130-150 BPM (half-time feel)
- Lo-Fi Hip Hop drum machine70-85 BPM
- House drum machine120-126 BPM
- Techno drum machine130-140 BPM
- Drum and Bass drum machine172-176 BPM
- Afro House drum machine120-124 BPM
- UK Garage drum machine130-135 BPM
- Funk drum machine100-110 BPM
- 808 drum machine100-130 BPM
DRUMMY is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.