Funk & R&B · hip-hop · 4/4 straight

Boom bap

90 bpm Loop: all
16ths
Kick
Snare
Hi-hat
Piano
Bass

Mixer

Keyboard

Boom bap — the 90s East-Coast hip-hop drum pattern (DJ Premier, Pete Rock, early Dilla) named for its two sounds: the boom of a sampled kick and the bap of a hard, dry snare on 2 and 4. The kick plays beat 1, the "a" of 2 and the "and" of 3 in the first bar, then a busier 1, "a" of 1, "and" of 3, "e" of 4 in the second; the hat ticks straight eighths. Nothing is swung — the grid is straight sixteenths, which is what separates it from dilla-swung-16ths.

The harmony is a looped two-bar sample: a minor seventh held and re-struck on the "and" of 2 and the "and" of 3, the bass on the same rhythm an octave down — a 3-3-2 shape lifted from the soul records the samples came from.

Listen for the snare: loudest thing in the mix and exactly on the beat, which makes the kick's off-beat placements sound heavy rather than busy. Practice: drums first with the rest muted; then play the chords with the "and of 2" push and sustain through the snare.

Sources

  • standard practice; no transcribed source

Keyboard

Space
Play / pause
← →
Loop the previous / next bar
1–6
Mute layer 1–6
[ ]
Tempo −5 / +5
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