New Jack Swing drum pattern
A two-bar new jack swing groove with hard-swung 16ths, a syncopated kick, a crisp backbeat and a swung extra snare at the end of the phrase. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 106 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the New Jack Swing
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 hard-swung 16th-note pocket).
The New Jack Swing 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 ---- ---- | ---- ---o ---- ---- |
| Closed hat | xoxo xoxo xoxo xoxo | xoxo xoxo xoxo xoxo |
Tempo and feel
Crisp and bouncy. The swing is strong but mechanical, so every swung 16th should land in exactly the same place each time. The default tempo is 106 BPM. It plays with 64% 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 New Jack Swing
Play swung 16th hats until the long-short pairs are even. Add the backbeat and the kick on the a of 1. Place the bar-two swung snare on the a of 4 and return to beat 1.
Variations to try next
Reduce Swing to 60% for a softer lope. Drop the extra snare. Add an open hat on the and of 2 in bar one.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Bobby Brown - My Prerogative, Guy - Groove Me and Keith Sweat - I Want Her. A played-kit study of late-80s new jack swing programming, where hip-hop drum machines met R&B: a hard-swung 16th grid, syncopated kicks and an extra swung snare that kicks the phrase over. It is a style study, not a transcription.