Sly Dunbar-Style Rockers drum pattern
A two-bar rockers groove in the manner of Sly Dunbar: kick on 1 and 3, a hard rimshot on 3, a busy 16th hat with offbeat accents and an open bark, and a rimshot pickup into the top. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 76 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Sly Dunbar-Style Rockers
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 rockers).
The Sly Dunbar-Style Rockers 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--- ---- |
| Snare | ---- ---- X--- ---- | ---- ---- X--- ---x |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- -o-- |
| Closed hat | ooxo ooxo ooxo oo-o | ooxo oo-o ooxo ooxo |
| Open hat | ---- ---- ---- --x- | ---- --x- ---- ---- |
Tempo and feel
Militant and rolling. The kick on 1 gives the bar a firmer floor than the one drop, and the hat keeps the 16ths moving. The default tempo is 76 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Sly Dunbar-Style Rockers
Play 16ths on the hat, accenting every and, and open it on the and of 4 in bar one. Add the kick on 1 and 3 and the rimshot on 3. Add the bar-two ghost and the rimshot pickup on the a of 4.
Variations to try next
Play the kick on all four beats to turn it into steppers. Flam the rimshot on 3. Thin the hat to offbeat eighths for a sparser verse.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include The Mighty Diamonds - Right Time. A practice study of the mid-70s rockers beat associated with Sly Dunbar at Channel One: the kick on 1 and 3, a hard rimshot on 3, and a busy 16th-note hi-hat that stresses the offbeat eighths, with one open bark per bar. Rockers drummers varied the kick and hat freely, and Sly often doubled or flammed the rimshot, reduced here to one ghost and one pickup. The rimshot is played by the snare voice; it is authored for practice, not transcribed.