Sixteenth-note funk with ghost notes and syncopated kicks: the hardest groove to play loosely and still stay tight. Press Play and the drums keep going until you stop them. Pick a tempo below or set your own anywhere from 50 to 220 BPM.
How a funk drum beat works
Funk lives on the sixteenth notes. The kick lands on off-beats, quiet ghost notes fill the snare line, and the hi-hat keeps a steady sixteenth grid. Everything else in the band plugs into that grid, so the job is to feel all four sixteenths of every beat.
How to play along
Guitarists: keep your strumming hand moving in sixteenths the whole time and only let the strings speak on some of them. Bassists: lock to the kick and leave rests; the space is part of the groove. Start slower than you think and speed up only when the muted strokes are even.
The funk grooves on this page
Funky Drummer is the classic open, busy break. Cissy Strut Pocket is looser and New Orleans flavoured. Superstition Pocket has a driving hi-hat. Funky Syncopation shifts the kick off the beat. Afrobeat Pulse is a longer, rolling groove for jamming.
Common practice tempos
Start with 80, 90, 100, 110 and 120 BPM. Each tempo has its own page with the right groove already selected, so you can bookmark the one you are working on.