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Drums4 min · Updated Jun 2026

Four-on-the-floor

Kick on all four beats, closed hat on every off-beat (the “and”), clap or snare on beats 2 and 4, open hat on the off-beats. That’s the entire foundation of house — everything else is decoration.

Genre identity lives in the drum pattern, not the kick sound. The difference between house and techno is what the kick does relative to everything around it. Keep kicks in the lows, claps in the mids and hats in the highs so they never mask each other.

Elaborate with 16th-note hat variations, extra percussion and subtle changes every 4 or 8 bars. A little swing — nudging hats slightly off the grid — adds the human feel.

Keep reading
Drums
Half-time feel
Arrangement
The 8-bar phrase
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