Beatbay guide
Rock drum beat
The basic rock beat is straight eighth notes on the hi-hat, the bass drum on beats 1 and 3 (often with an extra kick just after 3), and the snare hard on beats 2 and 4, at about 100 to 140 BPM.
The pattern
Eight hats a bar, accented on the beats. The kick plays the one, beat 3 and the eighth after it. The snare is on 2 and 4. A short tom fill at the end of the bar leads into the next.
| Drum | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bass drum | X | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | X | · | X | · | · | · | · | · |
| Snare drum | · | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | X | · | · | · |
| Hi-hat | X | · | x | · | X | · | x | · | X | · | x | · | X | · | x | · |
| Floor tom | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | x | · | 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
Straight, no swing, played with weight. Every song you know on the radio has some version of it.
The beat above is Beatbay’s “Rock” starter: 120 BPM, straight. Tap any step to change it while it plays.
Make it your own
Beatbay’s Acoustic kit (Pro) is a drum kit made in code; the Classic analogue kit gives it an electronic edge. Hold Fill for a roll before a chorus.
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 is the most common drum beat?
The rock backbeat: kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, hats in eighths.