Drum beat · Advanced

9/8 drum beat

Nines counted 2 + 2 + 2 + 3: three short beats and a long one. Kick on the 1st and 5th eighths, snare on the 3rd and 7th, the last beat is three long.

Tempo: 85 BPM (quarter note)
Level: Advanced 4 of 5
Time signature: 9/8
Feel: Straight 16ths
Run: 25 s · 8 bars
Limbs: Both hands and the kick foot

Play it on your kit

Free with a DRUMY account, in your browser.

The pattern

9/8 groove: one row per drum, one column per sixteenth of a bar of 9/8
Drum	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Hi-hat	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Snare			x				x
Kick	x				x

Each column is a sixteenth. x is a hit. The shading changes with each group of eighths, 2 + 2 + 2 + 3.

Plays it twice at 85 BPM.

How to count it

Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 & 9 &

Kick on 1 and 5, snare on 3 and 7, hi-hat on every eighth. Said aloud: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The nine eighths of each bar are counted in groups of two, two, two and three. At 85 BPM a quarter note, the eighths go by at 170 a minute.

How to practise it

Start with the hi-hat on its own, on every eighth.
Add the snare, on 3 and 7.
Add the kick, on 1 and 5.
Count aloud and play it through as DRUMY does: 8 bars at 85 BPM, about 25 seconds.