Trap / Hip-Hop · medium · 140 BPM
Trap Hat Rolls Drum Beat
Modern 808-driven trap programmed onto a sixteenth-note grid: a booming kick with syncopated placement, a clap on beat 3 (the half-time backbeat), and rapid hi-hat rolls bursting into double and triple time. The stuttering hats around beats 3 and 4 are the signature trap rattle.
Press play to hear it, then open the full machine to edit, loop, and play along with your own kit.
What this teaches
Mapping fast hi-hat roll subdivisions onto the sixteenth grid against a half-time clap backbeat.
More grooves
GrooveSteps practice notes · Updated 2026-10-18 · How these examples are made
Listen for this
Listen for the half-time backbeat and the hat clusters around it. This fixed grid represents sixteenth-note positions; it cannot encode arbitrarily fast subdivisions between those steps. Use the loop to study placement, then experiment with denser subdivisions in a sequencer that supports them.
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 140 BPM or lower the control until you can follow each part.
| Voice | Count positions |
|---|---|
| hihat | 1 · 1 & · 1 a · 2 · 2 & · 2 a · 3 · 3 e · 3 & · 3 a · 4 · 4 & · 4 a |
| kick | 1 · 2 & · 3 e |
| clap | 3 |
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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