Beatbay guide
Half-time drum beat
A half-time beat puts the snare on beat 3 instead of 2 and 4, so the music feels half as fast while the tempo stays the same. It sounds bigger and heavier, which is why choruses and drops often switch to it.
The pattern
One snare a bar, on beat 3. The kick plays the one and a couple of syncopated hits round it. The hats keep eighths going, so the speed is still there underneath.
| Drum | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boom kick | X | · | · | · | · | · | · | x | · | x | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| Snappy snare | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| Closed hat | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | · | · |
| Open hat | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | x | · |
Read across: each column is a sixteenth note, numbered on the beats. X is an accent, x a hit, r a quick roll, ? a hit that plays only some of the time round.
Tempo and feel
The tempo doesn’t change, the feel does. Going from a normal beat into half-time and back is one of the easiest ways to give a song a lift.
The beat above is Beatbay’s “Half-time groove” starter: 86 BPM, straight. Tap any step to change it while it plays.
Make it your own
Make two patterns in Beatbay, one normal and one half-time, and switch between them while playing: the change lands on the next bar line. With Pro, chain them in song mode.
When you like it, “Open in Beatbay” takes your version into the app, where you can save it, add patterns and share it as a link, a video or a WAV.
Questions
What does half-time mean in drums?
The snare plays on beat 3 instead of 2 and 4, so the beat feels half as fast at the same tempo.