House · easy · 124 BPM
Four-on-the-Floor House Drum Beat
The foundational house beat: a steady kick on every quarter note with an open hi-hat on every off-beat. The relentless four-on-the-floor pulse and the lift of the off-beat hats are what make people dance.
Press play to hear it, then open the full machine to edit, loop, and play along with your own kit.
What this teaches
Teaches locking a perfectly even quarter-note kick against syncopated off-beat hi-hats.
Heard in
- Daft Punk - Around the World
- Robin S - Show Me Love
- CeCe Peniston - Finally
More grooves
GrooveSteps practice notes · Updated 2026-10-18 · How these examples are made
Listen for this
Check that every kick has the same spacing and weight. Let the offbeat hat answer the kick instead of landing on it. A useful exercise is muting the hat for a bar while keeping its offbeat count in your voice.
Practice the arrangement
- Start with the sparsest row. Count every subdivision, including the silent positions.
- Add one voice at a time on your kit, or listen to the full loop and clap just one part. Keep the main pulse unchanged.
- Play four loops at a comfortable tempo. Change one note, then compare the variation with the displayed pattern before adding another.
Read the final example without sound
This loop has 16 steps, with 4 steps per main beat. Count each beat as number, e, and, a. The table lists the occupied positions; every unlisted position is a rest. Start at 124 BPM or lower the control until you can follow each part.
| Voice | Count positions |
|---|---|
| kick | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| hihat | 1 & · 2 & · 3 & · 4 & |
| clap | 2 · 4 |
These positions describe the programmed example, not an artist recording. Playback uses synthesized sounds. A real performance also involves touch, dynamics and phrasing.
Keep practicing
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Found a mismatch between the explanation and the player? Send a correction with the page address and the step or count that needs attention.