Glam Rock Stomp drum pattern
A two-bar glam rock stomp: floor-tom eighths in the lead hand, a stomping kick in pairs on 1 and 3, a heavy backbeat and a snare pickup that closes the phrase. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 128 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Glam Rock Stomp
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 floor-tom stomp).
The Glam Rock Stomp 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- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--x |
| Low tom | x-x- x-x- x-x- x-x- | x-x- x-x- x-x- x-x- |
Tempo and feel
Heavy, strutting and a little theatrical. The kick pairs and the floor tom move together like a crowd stamping on a wooden floor. The default tempo is 128 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Glam Rock Stomp
Play floor-tom eighths with the backbeat. Add the kick pairs on 1 and the & of 1, 3 and the & of 3. Add the bar-two kick on the & of 4 and the snare pickup on the a of 4.
Variations to try next
Move the lead hand to the hi-hat for the verse. Play the backbeat as a flam for a bigger clap. Drop the kick pairs to single kicks on 1 and 3.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Slade - Cum On Feel the Noize, Sweet - Block Buster! and Suzi Quatro - Can the Can. A practice study of early-70s glam rock: a stomping kick on 1, the & of 1, 3 and the & of 3, floor-tom eighths in the lead hand and a heavy backbeat. On the records the stomp was often thickened with handclaps, foot stomps and overdubbed drums; here it is folded into one kit. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.