Country Waltz drum pattern
A two-bar brushes-style country waltz: kick on 1, snare taps and the hi-hat foot on 2 and 3, a whisper of brush on the offbeats and a gentle lilt on the eighths. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 100 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Country Waltz
Count it as: 1 & 2 & 3 & · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 3/4 (two-bar 3/4 on a lightly swung eighth-note grid).
The Country Waltz 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- -- -- |
| Snare | -- x- x- | -- x- x- |
| Ghost snare | -o -o -o | -o -o -o |
| Pedal hat | -- o- o- | -- o- o- |
Tempo and feel
Boom, chick, chick, with the chicks soft and the whole bar leaning toward the next 1. Dancers glide on this, so keep it smooth rather than bouncy. The default tempo is 100 BPM. It plays with 55% 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 Country Waltz
Play the kick on 1 and the hi-hat foot on 2 and 3. Add the snare taps on 2 and 3 with the right hand, 3 a little softer. Add the left-hand offbeat whispers last, so quiet you feel them more than hear them.
Variations to try next
Play 2 and 3 as a cross-stick for a drier, ballroom sound. Add a kick on 3 in the second bar to walk with the bass. Straighten the lilt for a slower, more stately waltz.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Patti Page - Tennessee Waltz, Ernest Tubb - Waltz Across Texas and Anne Murray - Could I Have This Dance. A practice study of the brushes waltz behind country records from Patti Page's Tennessee Waltz to Ernest Tubb's Waltz Across Texas and Anne Murray's Could I Have This Dance, the way Nashville session drummers such as Buddy Harman played it. It is not a transcription of any of them. The kick takes 1 with the bass, the right hand taps 2 and 3 on the snare as the hi-hat foot closes with it, and the left-hand brush sweep, which the kit has no voice for, is drawn as barely-there snare notes on the offbeats.