Chicago drill drum pattern
Written at 120-150 BPM, felt in half-time; raw, dark and menacing. Here are its drums on a step grid, at the tempo it starts at, to hear and to change.
140 BPM · 808 kit · 2 bars
The pattern, step by step
Each step is a sixteenth note, four to a beat: step 1 is beat 1, 5 is beat 2, 9 is beat 3 and 13 is beat 4. A lit square is a hit; a fainter one is played softer.
- Hit
- Softer hit
- Roll: quick hits inside one step
- Lands between two steps
| Drum | Bar 1 | Bar 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Crash | 1 (soft) | – |
| Closed hat | 1, 3 (soft), 5, 7 (soft), 9, 11 (soft), 13 (roll, soft), 14 (between steps, soft), 15 (roll), 16 (between steps) | 1, 3 (soft), 5, 7 (soft), 9, 11 (soft), 13, 15 (roll, soft), 16 (roll) |
| Clap | 9 | 9 |
| Snare | 9 | 9, 12 (soft), 14 (soft), 15 |
| Kick | 1, 4, 11 | 1, 7, 10, 15 |
They open as one drum lane on a step grid, at 140 BPM. No account needed to start.
How Chicago drill drums go
Trap-style: snare and clap on beat 3 of every bar, plus a busy snare pickup run (two ghosts and a hit) into the next phrase, steady eighth hats breaking into sixteenth and triplet rolls, a syncopated kick, a crash on the one; none of the UK displaced snare or 3-3-2 hats.
Questions about Chicago drill drums
What BPM is Chicago drill?
Usually 120 to 150 BPM. This pattern plays at 140 BPM.
How do you make a Chicago drill drum pattern?
Start with the kick on steps 1, 4 and 11, the snare and clap on step 9, the closed hi-hat on steps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and the crash on step 1, then follow the grid for bar 2. Each step is a sixteenth note, four to a beat: step 1 is beat 1, 5 is beat 2, 9 is beat 3 and 13 is beat 4. Open it in the free editor to change any step.
Do Chicago drill drums swing?
No: every hit lands straight on the grid. The editor’s Steps view can add swing if you want the groove to bounce.
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