Creating New Grooves on the Drums

In the previous post, I talked about creativity in developing the left foot hi-hat to create new rhythmic solutions and grooves. In this article, I’ll show you how to create new grooves starting from rhythmic patterns in 16th notes. The same idea can be applied in 8th notes triplets and odd meters. In this first part, we start off with grooves based on 16th notes. Something that can inspire your creativity and drumming.

The following chart shows every permutation of 16th notes that fits one beat, taking into consideration the combinations of 2, 3, 4 notes, and the rest. We start creating the basic pattern in 4/4 selecting 4 of the permutations shown in the chart. If you find it useful, write down your idea. The pattern shown below is based on the combinations n. 7, 2, 8, 5.

Once comfortable with the pattern played on the hi-hat, we add the bass drum and the snare part. In this case a simple four on the floor and a syncopated snare drum part. In the next step, we’ll add the snare ghost notes filling the empty spaces between the notes. We have our own groove!

The variations are endless, try to play the pattern on the ride cymbal (on the cowbell, or on any rims). Here are some foot patterns to elevate your groove.

The final step is to customize your groove, adding rests, buzz rolls, and toms. Let’s play the groove over and over, and at different dynamics and tempos.

Here’s the pdf of the lesson, including some suggested rhythmic patterns to create your grooves and a drum notation key. Keep on drumming!

DOWNLOAD THE PDF