The pattern
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
| Snare | rest | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest | hit | rest | rest | rest |
| Crash | hit | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest | rest |
How to play it and where it comes from
The 19th-century waltz (Johann Strauss II, “An der schönen blauen Donau”, 1867; Chopin, Tchaikovsky in the ballets) is in 3/4, with a sixteenth-note grid (12 steps = 3 quarter notes). A transposition for drums/drum machine of the orchestral accompaniment: the kick stands for the bass (double basses, cellos, tuba or bass drum) on the first beat, the snare stands for the offbeat chords (violas, second violins, horns) on beats 2 and 3 — the classic “um-pa-pa”. The crash on the first beat of the bar stands for the cymbal that in ballroom waltzes marks the start of the phrase (use it every 4 or 8 bars, not every bar). The most important trait of the Viennese waltz is the microtiming: the second beat is slightly early and the third slightly late (the “Wiener Walzer” Schwung), so in a DAW shift the beat-2 hit about 10–25 ms early; do not quantize rigidly. Tempo: the ballroom Viennese waltz sits around 58–60 bars per minute (about 174–180 quarter notes), the slow (English) waltz around 28–30 bars (84–90 quarter notes); the concert waltz is conceived “in one” (one pulse per bar). Variants: alternating bass, tonic–fifth every bar; hemiola (two bars of 3/4 felt as three of 2/4) before the cadences; the slow Chopin-style waltz with rubato. The BPM given (180) refers to the quarter note;