Afro-Soul Groove drum pattern
A two-bar Afro-soul groove: eighth hats that lean on the ands, a bouncing kick, a light backbeat over ghost notes and floor-tom answers that close the phrase. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 122 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Afro-Soul Groove
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar lilting 16th-note Afro-soul pocket).
The Afro-Soul Groove pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Bar 1 | Bar 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | X--- --x- X--- --x- | X--x ---- X-x- ---- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Ghost snare | --o- ---- --o- ---- | --o- ---o ---- ---- |
| Closed hat | o-x- o-x- o-x- o-x- | o-x- o-x- o-x- o--- |
| Pedal hat | --o- --o- --o- --o- | --o- --o- --o- --o- |
| Low tom | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- --xx |
Tempo and feel
Buoyant and lilting. The offbeat hats give it a skip, and the backbeat stays light so the groove dances rather than pounds. The default tempo is 122 BPM. It plays with 53% swing by default; move the Swing control toward 50% to hear it straight. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Afro-Soul Groove
Play the hats with the accent on every and until it skips. Add the bouncing kick, then the light backbeat. Add the ghost notes and the bar-two floor-tom answers.
Variations to try next
Move the hand to a cowbell for the chorus. Put the accent back on the hat downbeats. Drop the floor tom for a sparser loop.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata and Hugh Masekela - Grazing in the Grass. A drum-set study of 60s South African soul and township pop crossing into American soul. The hand percussion and guitar lilt of the records are folded into offbeat-accented hats, the hi-hat foot and floor-tom answers. It differs from the library's Afro-Funk Bell Groove and Afrobeat Pulse, which lean on a bell timeline and a steady cross-stick; it is authored for practice, not transcribed.