Steady eighth-note hi-hats over a syncopated kick that skips the downbeat, creating an off-kilter, pushing groove with an extra snare hit leading into beat 4.
This groove skips the downbeat entirely. The kick waits until the '&' of 1, hits the '&' of 2, then lands on beat 3, while the snare adds an extra hit on the '&' of 3 alongside the usual 2 and 4. Over steady eighth-note hi-hats the result is an off-kilter pocket that pushes against the pulse instead of sitting on it.
Each column is one eighth note. x is a hi-hat or cymbal stroke, o is a drum.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & Hi-Hat x x x x x x x x Snare . . o . . o o . Kick . o . o o . . .
Count the bar out loud as 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & and add one limb at a time.
Beat 1 is silent apart from the hi-hat, which is disorienting at first. Count the bar out loud and let the hi-hat be your beat-1 marker until the pattern is internalised.
Start slow enough to place every note deliberately, lock each rung in before moving up, and only raise the tempo once the pattern is clean. Each step opens the metronome at that tempo.
This is an original pattern from the Drum Practice Pro library rather than a transcription, so there is no source recording to point at.
Ordered by difficulty — the first is the smallest step up.
Syncopation means placing accents where the pulse does not fall — on the '&' or 'e' or 'a' counts rather than on the numbered beats. This groove syncopates by leaving beat 1 empty and hitting the offbeats around it.
Because the kick arrives on the '&' counts, just after the beat. Notes placed after the pulse feel like they are pushing towards the next one.
Count out loud and use an accented metronome click on beat 1. Once the pattern is in your hands you will hear the bar from the snare placement alone.