Back in Black Pocket drum pattern
A dry, physical hard-rock pocket: wide backbeats, eighth-note hats, and a syncopated kick that never makes the bar feel crowded. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 94 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Back in Black Pocket
Count it as: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar straight eighth-note rock pocket).
The Back in Black Pocket 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- --x- X--x --x- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- |
| Pedal hat | ---- o--- ---- o--- | ---- o--- ---- o--- |
Tempo and feel
Big but economical. Keep the snare broad, keep the hats low, and let the small kick displacements create the swagger. The default tempo is 94 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Back in Black Pocket
Play only the eighth-note hats and 2-and-4. Add the kick without changing the hat volume. Make the bar-two pickup land exactly on the loop restart.
Variations to try next
Remove every kick except 1 and 3. Move the hats to ride. Add a tom fill only after the pocket is stable.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include AC/DC - Back in Black, Phil Rudd - recorded drum pocket and AC/DC - Shoot to Thrill. Reference-informed two-bar study of Phil Rudd's dry AC/DC pocket in "Back in Black". The guitars and room are omitted; the authored kick placement, broad snare, and restrained cymbal hand are the exercise.