Do you play a consistent bass drum pattern?

JDizzle

Junior Member
Just wondering what you guys do. I know that for me, I switch up the pattern that I'm playing on the bass drum every once in a while during the song or during the chorus. I'm not necessarily talking a completely different beat, although sometimes I do that as well. I think part of the reason I do this is because my adhd kicks in and the the other part is actually to change the feel in certain parts of the song. What are your guys' thoughts?
 
I do not change up patterns within a section of a song (verse, chorus, bridge).

I play at church and mixing up patterns within a section is distracting as hell.


Jazz is anything goes.
 
Not as any kind of rule. If a song needs a simple bass pattern, that's what I play. If I want the bass pattern to be more busy, if the song calls for it, then I might not loop more than a few measures, or perhaps follow the bass line more closely.

I think that even when you are changing the pattern constantly, it should still fit within a single theme or it should be clear to everyone why you're choosing this pattern. It shouldn't stand out from the key rhythms unless you're specifically meaning it to.
 
I try to take risks in every song, if possible, and am always trying to improve my kick technique: which is weak by the way. I play single bass single pedal

I'll try to sub-divide the kick where I can sneak it in or add dotted 8ths, str8 sixteenths or combos or triplets...the experimentation makes me a worse drummer from an in the moment and band viewpoint, but I don't care; I'm not fighting crime or saving the world with my drumming. If youve played sweet home alabama, cant get enough or The Breeze enough times, you will understand :)
 
Last edited:
During a song with a band, I play for the song.
During practice on my own, I do whatever I want to work or improve my technique.

But overall for me during any song, the worst thing to do is to think what pattern of bass drum to play (8ths, 16ths...etc.)
I gotta feel, not think.
 
Generally speaking, I pick a kick pattern and stick with it. That's what works best for me playing lyric based, groove oriented music. The pattern can change (or not) for the verse/chorus/bridge etc. but basically I stick with one kick pattern per section. The other players appreciate that. It's hard to lock into a moving target, so I try and make it easy for them to latch onto.
 
Not as any kind of rule. If a song needs a simple bass pattern, that's what I play. If I want the bass pattern to be more busy, if the song calls for it, then I might not loop more than a few measures, or perhaps follow the bass line more closely.

I think that even when you are changing the pattern constantly, it should still fit within a single theme or it should be clear to everyone why you're choosing this pattern. It shouldn't stand out from the key rhythms unless you're specifically meaning it to.

I agree with this ^^^^

If I mix up the bass drum pattern it would usually be in the 3rd repetition of a art that plays 4 times and still be based around the flow of the song or classed as simply an additive to the syncopation I was playing.
Not sure why I choose the 3rd repitition to do this. I often find feel changes or turning the beat around fun to do here as the listener has had a chance to get used to the flow, then you change it up, possibly catch them out then go back to normal for one more repitition then move onto the next part.

I don't like to do turn arounds on the last part as it's too distracting and spoils the flow of parts. That's just my little habbit I guess. If I ever DO change the part. I let the song do it's thing until the drums doing it's thing is an important part of the song...

Yeah, I explained that well... :s
 
I agree with this ^^^^

If I mix up the bass drum pattern it would usually be in the 3rd repetition of a art that plays 4 times and still be based around the flow of the song or classed as simply an additive to the syncopation I was playing.
Not sure why I choose the 3rd repitition to do this. I often find feel changes or turning the beat around fun to do here as the listener has had a chance to get used to the flow, then you change it up, possibly catch them out then go back to normal for one more repitition then move onto the next part.

I don't like to do turn arounds on the last part as it's too distracting and spoils the flow of parts. That's just my little habbit I guess. If I ever DO change the part. I let the song do it's thing until the drums doing it's thing is an important part of the song...

Yeah, I explained that well... :s

I got you loud and clear. Sometimes I apply a very similar idea when I'm playing. For this purpose, I find that if you're clever, you can keep your original pattern, but just spice it up a bit by adding a *th note here or there, maybe follow the bass or melodic theme literally note for note for a few bars.

What I'm not a big fan of really are bass drum patterns that are hard to get a hold of in your head. I think this is where a lot of "math rock" fails. Every part of it is so complex and it all lacks an anchor of some type to establish some kind of flow. But I digress...
 
Even when a song requires a syncopated bass drum pattern, it's a given it should remain consistent (constant?) throughout the song, but to change the BD pattern for one bar in an appropriate part of the song can be as/more effective than a drum fill.

In this song, Russ Ballard's In The Night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF6cRvc8fFE, Simon Phillips plays a different bass drum pattern for just one bar with dramatic effect at 3:44 druring the guitar solo, very tasty and effective, I stole that idea and applied it myself, it works wonder if it's done at the right time in a song.
 
Yeah I agree M.A.D

I disagree with the 'Math Rock' thing though. I love really intricate bass drum patterns. They can be the grooviest sounding parts ever, especially with tasty ghosts on the snare inbetween.

What I would say though is, I don't think Math rock/metal is a style, there are plenty or pregressive kinds of metal with intricate parts and timings etc and it only ever becomes or is described as 'math' if the songs are just badly written. A song without a soul.
That's not to say allcomplicated music is soulless. The ones who do it right just sound like great songs.
The ones that don't suddenly become math excersises and practise regimes and tricks squeezed into a composition then given a song name...

I think that is an important difference. So to say it is a style isn't really true I don't think. It's any rhythmically complicated style don wrong/for the sake of skill without any 'song' in there.
 
I've never really payed much attention to it. I just work out a groove in my head and just try to keep that feeling. Listening to recordings for practice/jam sessions/shows, I'm actually quite consistent, but idk if I always am.
 
Verses, choruses, b-sections, solos, etc may call for different parts, but within each, I normally stay on one identifiable, pertinent part. As for how those different parts relate to each other, it depends. Sometimes verses are simpler, and the choruses and solos take off. Sometimes the verse is busier, and I simplify and cruise on choruses & solos.

But I have my exceptions, too. One that comes to mind is a swingy/bluesy shuffle with one of my groups, where the verses get progressively more animated drum-wise. First verse is straight kick, snare, and 1/4s on the hat. 2nd verse, the hat goes to a shuffle. 3rd verse, the kick adds a few shuffly things. 4th verse is a lilting, full-on shuffle. The music doesn't really build though, it's just the drums that edge forward a little more each time around. A nice effect, though certainly not applicable very often.

So my answer to the question is, yes, and no.

Bermuda
 
Generally speaking, I pick a kick pattern and stick with it. That's what works best for me playing lyric based, groove oriented music. The pattern can change (or not) for the verse/chorus/bridge etc. but basically I stick with one kick pattern per section. The other players appreciate that. It's hard to lock into a moving target, so I try and make it easy for them to latch onto.

This is usually the case IME too.

The verse usually has it's kick pattern, which may be different from the chorus or bridge.

So typically if I change my bass drum, it's no more than three different patterns within a song.
 
Depends on the song and the situation.

Don't expect a ninja audition to yield useful info on how I would react in a performance situation.
 
I play what I think most benefits the song. It could be the same thing all the way through or
changed up from time to time. The song dictates it.
 
In 95% of the stuff I play, nobody even cares what kick pattern I use. There are a few songs that require the straight 1,3,5,7 but my natural tendency seems to be the 1 2, 5 6. Once in a while in rehearsal I will mix it up just to see if anyone notices and........they don't.

For the first time in ages, I had to actually learn and practice a pattern that didn't come naturally (EMF Unbelievable). I had to play the damn thing a hundred times to get comfortable.
 
I usually follow a pattern and lock in with the bass player, but there are times when the bass is doing large scales or something that allows me to play along with a guitarist and change up the pattern as the music dictates.
 
If I am playing a song which has an intricate and sometimes hard kick pattern (Lets go with Good Times Bad Times), I break my ass to try and do the song justice. If I am playing something by, let's say the Rolling Stones, I go crazy. Not knocking Charlie, the guy is a legend, but his stuff is too simple for me, so I keep the correct time, but amp up my kick pedal patterns a great deal. This will sound arrogant, sorry, but I play single kick and over the years have become pretty fast and versatile (not Bonham level) and I love playing the kick more than any other part of the kit, so often I will just go ahead and rip it. Why not?
 
If I am playing a song which has an intricate and sometimes hard kick pattern (Lets go with Good Times Bad Times), I break my ass to try and do the song justice. If I am playing something by, let's say the Rolling Stones, I go crazy. Not knocking Charlie, the guy is a legend, but his stuff is too simple for me, so I keep the correct time, but amp up my kick pedal patterns a great deal. This will sound arrogant, sorry, but I play single kick and over the years have become pretty fast and versatile (not Bonham level) and I love playing the kick more than any other part of the kit, so often I will just go ahead and rip it. Why not?

This is my school of thought...I would not use the term *crazy* as my approach, but I will take risks and improvise on the kick to work on my weakness. I'm working on Good Times Bad Times and that is really my gold standard for single kick. Not there yet, but working to get that song dialed really flows down to all single kick drum applications.
 
Back
Top