Miami Bass drum pattern
A two-bar Miami bass groove at dance tempo: syncopated boom kicks, a hard 2-and-4 backbeat, running 16th hats and an open hat into the turnaround. 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 Miami Bass
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 16th-note Miami bass pocket).
The Miami Bass 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--- |
| Closed hat | xooo xooo xooo xooo | xooo xooo xooo xo-o |
| Open hat | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- --x- |
Tempo and feel
Fast, bright and bottom-heavy. The 16ths never stop, and the kicks should feel like bass notes that happen to be drums. The default tempo is 128 BPM. It plays with 52% 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 Miami Bass
Run the 16th hats alone with the accent on each beat. Add the backbeat, then the bar-one kicks. Open the hat on the and of 4 in bar two and land beat 1 cleanly.
Variations to try next
Straighten the kick to 1 and the and of 2 only. Replace the 16th hats with eighths for a breakdown. Add a cowbell on the and of each beat.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include 2 Live Crew - Throw the D and Tag Team - Whoomp! (There It Is). A played-kit translation of 80s and early-90s Miami bass drum-machine programming: long 808 kick booms written as syncopated kicks, a hard 2-and-4 clap-snare and a continuous 16th hat. It is a style study, not a transcription.