Djent Polymetric Kick drum pattern
A four-bar djent groove: a half-time snare on beat 3 and ride on every beat, over a double-kick cell seven 16ths long that drifts across the barline and resets every four bars. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 120 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Djent Polymetric Kick
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a · four bars. The pattern is a 4-bar phrase in 4/4 (four-bar 16th-note phrase with a seven-step kick cycle).
The Djent Polymetric Kick 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 | Bar 3 | Bar 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | XX-X ---X X-X- --XX | -X-- -XX- X--- XX-X | ---X X-X- --XX -X-- | -XX- X--- XX-X ---- |
| Snare | ---- ---- X--- ---- | ---- ---- X--- ---- | ---- ---- X--- ---- | ---- ---- X--- ---- |
| Open hat | X--- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- ---- |
| Ride | ---- x--- x--- x--- | x--- x--- x--- x--- | x--- x--- x--- x--- | x--- x--- x--- x--- |
Tempo and feel
Lurching over a steady floor. Hold the ride and snare dead straight and let the kick cell pull against them. The default tempo is 120 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Djent Polymetric Kick
Play the ride on every beat and the snare on beat 3 for four bars, counting aloud. Play the seven-step kick cell alone, counting one to seven, right-left-right. Put them together at 80 BPM and check that the cell lands on beat 1 again only at the top of the phrase.
Variations to try next
Use a five-step cell, hits on 1, 2 and 4, for a tighter cycle. Play the quarter notes on a china. Double the ride to eighth notes to make the barline easier to hear.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Meshuggah and the djent and progressive metal bands that followed. A practice study of the polymetric djent groove that Meshuggah made famous: the hands keep a plain half-time 4/4, a ride on every beat and one snare on beat 3, while the kick doubles a guitar riff built from a seven-16th cell that drifts across the barline. The cell runs nine times and the last beat of bar four rests, so the riff restarts on beat 1 of the next phrase, as those riffs reset every four or eight bars. The seven-step cell is an informed choice; real riffs use many odd lengths and are rarely this regular. The one kick sample stands in for a double pedal, the open hi-hat for the crash at the top of the phrase, and many records play the quarter notes on a china or hi-hat. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.