The pattern
220 BPM · 4/4 · 16 step
| Instrument | Beat 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Beat 2 | Step 6 | Step 7 | Step 8 | Beat 3 | Step 10 | Step 11 | Step 12 | Beat 4 | Step 14 | Step 15 | Step 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
| Snare | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Rim shot | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Closed hi-hat | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest | hit | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
Traditional bluegrass (Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys from 1945 with Flatt & Scruggs; then the Stanley Brothers, Tony Rice, Alison Krauss) uses no drums: the rhythm is all in the string instruments. Mapping: kick = the double bass playing root and fifth on 1 and 3 (the “boom”), snare/rim = the mandolin “chop,” a dry, muted chord on 2 and 4 that works like a snare; chh = the flow of eighths from the three-finger banjo (roll) and the guitar's flatpicking. Straight eighths, with a push slightly ahead of the beat (Monroe called this push “drive”). Tempos 100–140 counted in half notes (200–280 in quarters); ballads and waltzes in 3/4 at 90–120. If drums are used (newgrass, Americana): brushes and a light train beat.