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Unit 1 · Lesson 6 of 9

Genre Grooves & Swing

Investigate how tempo, drum patterns, and swing tell a listener what genre they're hearing.

Warm-up 8 minLearn 14 minTry it in Logic 25 minCheck + exit 10 min
Learning targets
  • I can describe the tempo range and drum pattern that signal four genres.
  • I can program each genre groove in the Step Sequencer.
  • I can add swing to a pattern and explain what it changes.

Warm-up: name that genre

Your teacher plays short clips from four genres. For each clip, write down:

  1. The genre (make your best guess)
  2. Fast, medium, or slow?
  3. One thing the drums are doing that gave it away

Four genre grooves

Listeners recognize a genre quickly, and the drums are a big reason why. Tempo and drum pattern together are like a genre's fingerprint.

Four-on-the-floor
A kick on every beat (1, 2, 3, 4). It's the foundation of house, techno, and disco.
Open hi-hat
A hi-hat hit with the cymbals apart, so it rings longer. In house music it often lands on the “&” between kicks.
Half-time feel
A groove where the snare hits only on beat 3 instead of on 2 and 4, so a fast tempo feels half as fast. Common in trap.
Hi-hat roll
A quick burst of very fast hi-hat hits (sixteenths or faster), a signature of trap.
Genre
A category of music defined by shared sounds, rhythms, and traditions, such as house, hip-hop, trap, or rock.

House · 120–128 BPM

1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
Open hat
Closed hat
Clap
Kick

Four-on-the-floor kick, clap backbeat, open hat on the offbeats

Boom bap (’90s hip-hop) · 85–95 BPM

1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
Closed hat
Snare
Kick

Heavy kick with a syncopated second hit, strong snare backbeat, add swing

Trap · 130–150 BPM (feels like 65–75)

1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
Closed hat
Snare
Kick

Half-time snare on beat 3, sparse kick, hi-hat roll in the second half

Rock · 100–130 BPM

1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
Closed hat
Snare
Kick

Straight eighth-note hats, backbeat snare, kick on 1 and around 3

Swing

Swing
Delaying every second sixteenth (the “e” and the “a”) slightly, so the rhythm bounces instead of marching. 50% is straight; higher values swing more.

Clap straight sixteenths, then clap them in a long-short, long-short pattern. The second one is swing. Boom bap, lo-fi, and funk almost always swing. House sometimes swings a little. Rock and trap usually stay mostly straight.

Try it in Logic

Program the four grooves
  1. Add a new Drum Machine Designer track (Option⌘N › Software Instrument, then choose an Electronic Drum Kit in the Library).
  2. Make a pattern region at bar 10 and program the House groove. Set the tempo to 124.
  3. Make pattern regions at bars 12, 14, and 16 for Boom bap, Trap, and Rock. Set Cycle over each one and change the tempo to fit it as you listen.
  4. Some kits don't have an open hi-hat row. If yours doesn't, try a different kit or use a cymbal or shaker row instead.
Add swing
  1. Select your Boom bap pattern region and open the Step Sequencer.
  2. Open the Step Sequencer's inspector (the settings panel on its left side) and find Swing.
  3. Try 50% (straight), then 58%, then 66%. Listen for the bounce.

For MIDI regions (not pattern regions), swing is in the region settings in the Inspector (I), near Quantize.

Practice

Genre investigation. Your teacher plays three more tracks. Fill in a chart like this in your notes:

TrackTempo (fast/med/slow, or BPM)Kick patternSnare/clapHi-hatSwing?Genre
1
2
3

Check your understanding

Quick check: A beat has a kick on every beat at 124 BPM with claps on 2 and 4. What genre is it most likely?

Quick check: What does swing change?

Exit ticket

Pick one genre. Name its tempo range and two drum choices that tell a listener what genre it is.