50s Rock and Roll drum pattern
A two-bar 50s rock and roll shuffle: a shuffled hat, a hard backbeat on 2 and 4, a kick on 1 and 3 and a snare pickup that throws the phrase back to the top. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 164 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the 50s Rock and Roll
Count it as: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar eighth-note-triplet rock and roll shuffle).
The 50s Rock and Roll 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 |
| Snare | --- X-- --- X-- | --- X-- --- X-x |
| Ghost snare | --- --o --- --- | --- --- --o --- |
| 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
Bright and pushing. The backbeat is loud for its day; the shuffle underneath stays light so the band can jump. The default tempo is 164 BPM. It plays with 67% 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 50s Rock and Roll
Play the shuffled hat alone, long-short, with the hi-hat foot on 2 and 4. Add the kick on 1 and 3 and the hard backbeat. Add the bar-two ghost and the snare pickup on the let of 4.
Variations to try next
Move the shuffle to the ride for the sax solo. Play the kick on all four beats. Straighten the Swing control toward 50% for an Earl Palmer-style straight-eighth feel.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode, Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around the Clock and Elvis Presley - Hound Dog. A practice study of mid-50s rock and roll drumming, where a jump-blues shuffle meets a hard backbeat. The shuffle lives on the triplet grid with the let notes on the Swing control; the slapped upright bass, the piano triplets and the small-room sound of the records are not reproduced. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.