Muscle Shoals Pocket drum pattern
A two-bar Southern soul groove: a round kick that settles on the and of 2 and beat 3, a relaxed backbeat, sparse ghost notes and a loose hat that lifts at the end of the phrase. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 96 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Muscle Shoals Pocket
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 deep Southern soul pocket).
The Muscle Shoals Pocket 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- --xx ---- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---- ---o ---- | ---o ---- -o-- ---- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- | x-o- x-o- x-o- x--- |
| Open hat | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- --x- |
Tempo and feel
Deep and unhurried. The groove feels heavy because nothing rushes, not because anything is loud. The default tempo is 96 BPM. It plays with 53% 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 Muscle Shoals Pocket
Play the kick alone and let each note ring its full length. Add hats and backbeat, keeping the snare slightly behind. Add the two ghost notes last, barely above silence.
Variations to try next
Leave the ghost notes out for a starker verse. Close the bar-two open hat. Move the hat hand to the ride for the chorus.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You), Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally and The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There. A style study of the deep, unhurried pocket of the Muscle Shoals, Alabama studio rhythm sections, where Roger Hawkins is the drummer most associated with the sound. The kick figures and the loose hat lift are authored for practice, not transcribed from any one record.