2-Tone Ska Beat drum pattern
A two-bar 2-tone ska beat: the hat opened on every and and closed by the foot on the beat, a kick on 1 and 3, a hard 2-and-4 snare and a bar-two push and pickup. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 156 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the 2-Tone Ska Beat
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 ska beat with offbeat open hat).
The 2-Tone Ska 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- ---- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--x |
| Ghost snare | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---o ---- |
| Open hat | --x- --x- --x- --x- | --x- --x- --x- --x- |
| Pedal hat | o--- o--- o--- o--- | o--- o--- o--- o--- |
Tempo and feel
Tight and urgent. The open hat barks on the offbeat with the guitar; the foot snaps it shut on the beat so every bark is short. The default tempo is 156 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the 2-Tone Ska Beat
Play the hat alone: stick opens it on each and, the foot closes it on each beat. Add the kick on 1 and 3 and the snare on 2 and 4. Add the bar-two kick on the and of 3 and the snare pickup on the a of 4.
Variations to try next
Play the kick on all four beats for a stomping chorus. Close the hat and play straight eighths for a rock section. Play the backbeat as a rimshot for a harder crack.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Late-70s 2 Tone label singles. A practice study of late-70s British 2-tone ska drumming: punk-quick straight eighths, a kick on 1 and 3, a hard snare on 2 and 4, and the ska hi-hat, opened by the stick on every and and closed by the foot on every beat so it barks with the offbeat guitar. Drummers of the scene also ran four-on-the-floor kicks and rimshot backbeats; this is the common teaching shape. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.