Moon-Style Tom Roll Drive drum pattern
A two-bar lead-drum rock groove: a crash-led ride drive, a busy kick, backbeat with ghost pickups and a hand-to-hand tom roll that runs through beat 4 into the crash. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 136 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Moon-Style Tom Roll Drive
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 ride drive with a tom roll).
The Moon-Style Tom Roll Drive 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--- ---- ---- |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---o ---- ---o | ---- ---o ---- ---- |
| Open hat | X--- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- ---- |
| Ride | --x- x-x- x-x- x-x- | x-x- x-x- ---- ---- |
| High tom | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- xxxx ---- |
| Low tom | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- xxXX |
Tempo and feel
Wild but on the pulse. The ride and kick push forward; the roll should crescendo and land squarely on the next crash. The default tempo is 136 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Moon-Style Tom Roll Drive
Play the ride eighths and backbeat, crashing on the top of bar one. Add the busy kick without letting the ride get louder. Learn the tom roll hand to hand, then drop it into the second half of bar two.
Variations to try next
Roll across both halves of bar two for a break. Keep the backbeat on 4 and roll only the & and a. Crash on every beat 1 for a louder chorus.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include The Who - My Generation, The Who - I Can See for Miles and The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again. A practice study of the lead-drum style associated with Keith Moon: crash and ride washes instead of steady hi-hat time, a busy kick and tom rolls that run straight through the backbeat. The open hat stands in for the crash cymbals and the rolls are tidied onto a 16th grid; Moon's free phrasing across the bar cannot be written as a loop, so this is a practice study, not a transcription.