Open-Hat Break Loop drum pattern
A two-bar sampled-break style loop: eighth hats with open-hat barks, a kick that answers the backbeat, and ghosted snare fill-ins that make the loop sound played. 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 Open-Hat Break Loop
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 breakbeat loop).
The Open-Hat Break Loop 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- ---- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---- -o-- ---o | ---o ---- -o-o ---- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x--- | x-o- x--- x-o- x--- |
| Open hat | ---- ---- ---- --x- | ---- --x- ---- --x- |
Tempo and feel
Live and a little loose, like a drummer on a 70s soul record that someone looped. The open hats bark and close; the ghosts fill the cracks without cluttering them. The default tempo is 96 BPM. It plays with 54% 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 Open-Hat Break Loop
Play the hats and practise closing each open hat exactly on the next eighth. Add the kick and backbeat. Add the ghost notes last at whisper volume.
Variations to try next
Close every open hat for a tighter loop. Loop bar one only. Play the loop at 88 BPM for a heavier nod.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include The Honey Drippers - Impeach the President and 70s soul and funk breaks looped in golden-era hip-hop. A style study of the soul and funk drum breaks that 80s and 90s producers looped: a played eighth-note hat with open-hat barks, ghosted snare fill-ins and a kick that answers the backbeat. It is written for practice and does not reproduce any one break.