Pop-Punk Skate Beat drum pattern
A fast two-bar pop-punk groove: a skank bar with kick on every beat and snare on every and, then a driving backbeat bar on a bashed open hat. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 184 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Pop-Punk Skate Beat
Count it as: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar eighth-note skank and drive).
The Pop-Punk Skate 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 | Bar 1 | Bar 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | X- X- X- X- | X- -X X- -- |
| Snare | -X -X -X -X | -- X- -- X- |
| Closed hat | x- x- x- x- | -- -- -- -- |
| Open hat | -- -- -- -- | xx xx xx xx |
Tempo and feel
Bouncy then pounding. The skank bar bounces like a polka; the second bar opens up into a straight rock drive at the same speed. The default tempo is 184 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Pop-Punk Skate Beat
Play the skank bar alone: kick and hat on the beats, snare on every &. Play the drive bar alone: open hat eighths, kick on 1, the & of 2 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. Alternate the two bars without the tempo moving.
Variations to try next
Play four bars of skank before the drive. Ride the crash instead of the open hat in bar two. Halve the tempo feel with the snare on beat 3 only.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Blink-182 - Dammit and Green Day - Basket Case. A practice study of 90s pop-punk drumming: one bar of skank beat, kick on every beat against the snare on every &, then a bar of driving backbeat on a bashed open hat. The speed, the fills that usually end every fourth bar and the double-time bursts of the style are left to the player; it is authored for practice, not transcribed.