Stubblefield-Style Ghosts drum pattern
A two-bar ghost-note study: eighth-note hats, a strong backbeat and a dense lattice of quiet snare notes filling the 16ths the hats leave open, over a kick that pushes the and of 1. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 104 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Stubblefield-Style Ghosts
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 swung 16th-note ghost-note pocket).
The Stubblefield-Style Ghosts 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- --x- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Ghost snare | -o-o --oo -o-o ---o | -o-o --o- -o-o -o-o |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- |
Tempo and feel
Busy but quiet. The ghosts are felt as texture, never heard as a roll, and the backbeat stays a full two levels above them. The default tempo is 104 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 Stubblefield-Style Ghosts
Play the backbeat and ghosts alone at half tempo, keeping every ghost below 40. Add the eighth hats, landing ghosts only between them. Bring in the kick last without letting the ghosts get louder.
Variations to try next
Remove every other ghost for a lighter pocket. Play the hats as 16ths and drop the ghosts that collide. Accent the bar-two ghost on the a of 2.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include James Brown - Cold Sweat and James Brown - Mother Popcorn. A style study of the ghost-note lattice associated with Clyde Stubblefield: plain eighth-note hats with the 16ths filled in by a whispering snare hand. The library's Funky Drummer groove covers his open-hat break; this one keeps the hats closed so the ghost notes carry the phrase.