When I first began making beats I would just throw melodies and random drum patterns together not knowing how to count bars -since I had no formal training as a musician. It was quite embarrassing when my friends would hear my beats and say they feel like they are getting a seizure from listening to it because of how “all over the place” they sounded. The first thing I realized was that I need to learn how to count bars. So how did I do it?
Counting Bars the Wrong Way
The first thing I did was take Biggie’s first verse from “One More Chance” and rap it over one of my beats to see if it would fit before the chorus or hook came in. Although this is wrong to do, it did teach me that “counting bars” is not about a certain length of time but rather a measure of beats or drums to put it more precisely. So the first thing you have to learn is drumming.
How to Learn Drums in 30 seconds.
Now although this isn’t drumming in the sense of actually playing drums, once you figure this out you’ll be able to better understand how drums work. Okay ready for the 30 second lesson? A drum pattern consists primarily of two sounds (1) a kick and (2) snare. A kick is the “boom sound” you hear that starts off a bar and the snare is the “knock or clap sound” that precedes it. Now how many kicks and snares go into one bar? Four – 2 kicks and 2 snares. Here is a basic drum pattern.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
That’s one bar. Easy? Now what I want you to take your right hand and make it into a ball and with the bottom of your fist slam it onto your desk. Then take your left hand and make it “clap” or “tap” your desk. You can probably figure out by now that the “slam” of your fist is the “kick” and the “tap” is the “snare”. Now follow the drum pattern below.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Kick. Snare. Kick. Snare.
Wait not so fast…
Sounds like the beginning of a Micheal Jackson song? Well guess what you’ve made your first drum pattern. Now how do you get that drum pattern into your beat making software? Simple. Here is an example using Sonic Producer, but you can use any beat making software you like (Sonic Producer is the easiest though for beginners).
Step 1: Program kicks
First place a drum sound into a track on your sequencer. This can be any sound that makes a “boom” sounding noise. Then “click” on the first step in the sequencer to put the kick in. Do this for every 8th step. This means you will have a kick sound at step 1 and step 9.
Step 2: Program snares
Second, get your clap sound or snare drum loaded into a track as you did above with the drum sound above, and place it in between each kick. So you will click on step 5 and step 13.
You did it!
Now press play. Voila! Your first one bar drum pattern in your beat making software. I suggest you play with this for a bit and try out new drum patterns. Listen to drum patterns from your favorite rap songs and try to emulate them. You’ll soon notice how music is broken down into little pieces and be coming up with your own patterns in no time.
Still Need Help Playing Drums?
If you need extra help learning to play or program drums, I suggest you take this online course in drumming which you can get right over here.
