The pattern
138 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 | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Snare | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Clap | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Closed hi-hat | hit | rest | hit | hit | hit | rest | hit | hit | hit | rest | hit | hit | hit | rest | hit | hit |
| Open hi-hat | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest |
| Crash | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
| Tambourine | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
Eurodance (Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, 1990–1997): four-on-the-floor drum machine between 120 and 150 BPM; tracks from the "golden era" of 1992–1995 climb toward 135–150. Short, full kick on the quarter notes, snare + clap (+ tambourine) on 2 and 4, open hat on the offbeat that locks in with the offbeat eighth-note bass (the offbeat bass pattern is the other half of the groove), closed hats in sixteenths with a gap on the second sixteenth of each beat. Crash at the start of every 8-bar phrase. Fills: sixteenth-note snare roll in the last bar before the chorus, often with a filter opening; a one-bar stop with vocals only, then a restart with a crash. Rap verses often drop the open hat and leave just kick and snare.