New Orleans Trad Beat drum pattern
A one-bar New Orleans trad beat: the kick on all four beats and a hand-to-hand snare shuffle on the beats and their lets, accented on 2 and 4. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 176 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the New Orleans Trad Beat
Count it as: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let. The pattern is one bar of 4/4 (one-bar eighth-note-triplet snare shuffle over four on the kick).
The New Orleans Trad Beat 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 | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Kick | x-- x-- x-- x-- |
| Snare | o-o X-o o-o X-o |
Tempo and feel
Bouncy and marching. The four on the kick is a pulse to lean on, and the snare accents on 2 and 4 lift the front line. The default tempo is 176 BPM. It plays with 67% 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 Orleans Trad Beat
Play the kick on all four beats at an even, moderate level. Play the snare shuffle hand to hand, right on the beats and left on the lets. Accent 2 and 4 on the snare without the kick getting louder.
Variations to try next
Play the kick on 1 and 3 only for a two-beat feel. Replace the shuffle with a short press roll into 2 and 4. Move the right hand to the cowbell for a woodblock-style chorus.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include New Orleans traditional jazz ensembles and the revival bands that followed them. A practice study of traditional New Orleans jazz drumming on the kit, after the four-to-the-bar bass drum of Baby Dodds and his generation. The kick plays all four beats, steady and felt under the band. The snare plays a shuffle hand to hand, on each beat and on its let, with accents on 2 and 4; this shuffle is one common trad snare part and an informed choice, standing in for the press rolls, rim and woodblock strokes and choked-cymbal backbeats that a trad drummer moves between from chorus to chorus. The hi-hat is left out, as in the earliest New Orleans drumming. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.