Trap Triplet Hat Rolls drum pattern
A two-bar half-time trap groove on a 16th-triplet grid: straight eighth hats that tip into eighth-note triplets and a full 16th-triplet roll, under a beat-3 snare. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 140 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Trap Triplet Hat Rolls
Count it as: 1 ta la & ta la 2 ta la & ta la 3 ta la & ta la 4 ta la & ta la · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar 16th-note-triplet grid · six slots per beat).
The Trap Triplet Hat Rolls 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----- ------ |
| Closed hat | x--o-- x--o-- x--o-- x-o-o- | x--o-- ooooxx x--o-- x-o-o- |
Tempo and feel
Rolling, not rushing. The switch from straight eighths to triplets should feel like a change of gear at the same speed of pulse. The default tempo is 140 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Trap Triplet Hat Rolls
Play straight eighths on slots 1 and 4 of each beat. Switch to eighth-note triplets on beat 4, then back to eighths. Play the bar-two roll on beat 2 as six even strokes with the beat-3 snare landing clean.
Variations to try next
Move the 16th-triplet roll to beat 4. Play only straight eighths to hear the contrast. Add a kick on the last triplet of beat 4.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Migos - Versace and Migos - Bad and Boujee. A played-kit study of the triplet hat rolls that spread through trap in the 2010s. The grid is six 16th-note triplets per beat, so straight eighths (slots 1 and 4) and triplet rolls can sit in the same bar. It is a style study, not a transcription.