Indie Disco-Rock drum pattern
A two-bar indie dance-rock beat: four-on-the-floor kick, a hard backbeat, a hat that opens on every and, and a ghost and snare pickup in bar two. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 126 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Indie Disco-Rock
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 four-on-the-floor open-hat beat).
The Indie Disco-Rock 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--- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--x |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---o ---- ---- |
| Closed hat | x--- x--- x--- x--- | x--- x--- x--- x--- |
| Open hat | --x- --x- --x- --x- | --x- --x- --x- --x- |
Tempo and feel
Driving and danceable but played like rock. The open hats lift every offbeat; the kick and snare stay hard and dry. The default tempo is 126 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Indie Disco-Rock
Play the kick on all four beats with the backbeat. Add the hats: closed on the beats, open on every &. Close each open hat cleanly with the next closed stroke, then add the bar-two pickup.
Variations to try next
Play closed 16th hats for the verse. Drop the kick to 1 and 3 for a breakdown. Add a cowbell on every &.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out, The Killers - Somebody Told Me and Bloc Party - Banquet. A practice study of early-2000s indie dance-rock: a four-on-the-floor kick, a straight backbeat and a hat that opens on every &, borrowed from disco but played harder and drier by a rock drummer. It is a rock cousin of the library's Four-on-the-Floor pattern; the cowbell and extra percussion of some records are left out, and it is authored for practice, not transcribed.