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Lesson 3.1 · Sixteenths and the busy kick

Sixteenths on the hi-hat

Four hi-hat strokes per beat, alternating hands.

84 BPM 16 bars, about 49 seconds 3 steps Updated

The pattern

One bar of "The groove", the whole groove, as the app's highway asks for it:

One bar of Sixteenths on the hi-hat: Hi-hat on every sixteenth note; Snare on 2 and 4; Kick on 1 and 3 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a Hi-hat Snare Kick
  • Hi-hat: every sixteenth note.
  • Snare: 2 and 4.
  • Kick: 1 and 3.

The bar repeats in four-bar phrases and the lesson ends on a crash. Count out loud at first: the numbers are the beats, "&" the eighth notes between them, "e" and "a" the sixteenths.

The steps

The app offers the lesson in steps; the last one is the whole groove and the only one that can finish the lesson.

  1. Step 1: Hi-hat only. Open the lesson in WebEDrums, choose step 1 in the Play dialog and loop it in Practice until it is even, slowing the tempo down if it is not.
  2. Step 2: Hands only. Open the lesson in WebEDrums, choose step 2 in the Play dialog and loop it in Practice until it is even, slowing the tempo down if it is not.
  3. Step 3: The groove. Play the whole groove. The lesson is done at 90 % accuracy at 84 BPM; a clean pass slower than that counts as steady at that tempo.

Tip

Right, left, right, left on the hi-hat; on 2 and 4 the left hand drops to the snare instead. Start slow and keep it even.

How to practise it

  • Start slow. The tempo chips under the highway drop the lesson to 60 or 40 BPM without changing the pitch; the "−" and "=" keys step it by five.
  • Let the ramp work. In Practice on a lesson, each whole pass at 90 % raises the tempo five beats a minute towards 84; a pass under 70 % lowers it. Turn it off in the pause dialog if you would rather sit at one tempo.
  • Use the click. Press M for a metronome on every beat; the Audio settings add eighth notes, and a quiet count that drops the click for two bars in four so you can hear whether your time holds.
  • Hear it first. The lesson page in the app has a "Hear the groove" button that plays the drums over the backing track once.

Where the pattern comes from

The levels follow the order the beginner methods share (checked on October 20, 2026); the groove on this page is written as those methods describe it, not copied from any of them.