Page 5 – 25 Hi Hat Patterns with drum beat examples

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Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

This page continues from the last one, combining 8th notes and 16t notes to create hi hat patterns.

These hi hat patterns and drum beat examples are for styles such as rock, pop, funk, soul, all in a 4/4 time signature.

These patterns can be used with basic drum beats or more complicated ones.

The Moeller technique works well on patterns 5, 6, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25.

You could also add 8th note or 16th note swing to all of the patterns.

> = Accents (play louder). You can play the accents on the top of the hi hat for a clean sound.

You could play the accents on the hi hat edge with 45 degree stick angle, for a heavier sound.

Circle around the hi hat means open hi hat.

Page 4 – 25 Hi Hat Patterns with drum beat examples

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Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

This page and the next page concentrates on combinations of 8th notes and 16t notes to create hi hat patterns.

These hi hat patterns and drum beat examples are for styles such as rock, pop, funk, soul, all in a 4/4 time signature.

These patterns can be used with basic drum beats or more complicated ones.

The Moeller technique works well on patterns 5, 6, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25.

You could also add 8th note or 16th note swing to all of the patterns.

> = Accents (play louder). You can play the accents on the top of the hi hat for a clean sound.

You could play the accents on the hi hat edge with 45 degree stick angle, for a heavier sound.

Circle around the hi hat means open hi hat.

Page 3 – 25 Hi Hat Patterns with drum beat examples

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Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

This page focusses on accents on the hi hats whilst playing 16th notes with 2 hands. Adding double strokes to some or all of the non accents would be one way to extend this sheet further, as would adding open hi hats and appling different drum beats such as the beats in this book: 90 intermediate drum beats focusing on the bass drum – PDF ebook. You can also find more 16th note exercises with accents here: Accent Exercises with 16th notes – PDF ebook

These hi hat patterns and drum beat examples are for styles such as rock, pop, funk, soul, all in a 4/4 time signature.

These patterns can be used with basic drum beats or more complicated ones.

The Moeller technique works well on patterns 5, 6, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25.

You could also add 8th note or 16th note swing to all of the patterns.

> = Accents (play louder). You can play the accents on the top of the hi hat for a clean sound.

You could play the accents on the hi hat edge with 45 degree stick angle, for a heavier sound.

Circle around the hi hat means open hi hat.

Page 2 – 25 Hi Hat Patterns with drum beat examples

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Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

These hi hat patterns and drum beat examples are for styles such as rock, pop, funk, soul, all in a 4/4 time signature.

These patterns can be used with basic drum beats or more complicated ones.

The Moeller technique works well on patterns 5, 6, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25.

You could also add 8th note or 16th note swing to all of the patterns.

> = Accents (play louder). You can play the accents on the top of the hi hat for a clean sound.

You could play the accents on the hi hat edge with 45 degree stick angle, for a heavier sound.

Circle around the hi hat means open hi hat.

Page 1 – 25 Hi Hat Patterns with drum beat examples

Free PDF Download

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

These hi hat patterns and drum beat examples are for styles such as rock, pop, funk, soul, all in a 4/4 time signature.

These patterns can be used with basic drum beats or more complicated ones.

The Moeller technique works well on patterns 5, 6, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25.

You could also add 8th note or 16th note swing to all of the patterns.

> = Accents (play louder). You can play the accents on the top of the hi hat for a clean sound.

You could play the accents on the hi hat edge with 45 degree stick angle, for a heavier sound.

Circle around the hi hat means open hi hat.

40 Beats and Fills Exercises Book 2

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This book contains drum beats and drum fills in the styles of pop, rock, blues, musical theatre, jazz, heavy metal, hard rock, punk rock, and indie, as well as covering fundamental techniques such as stepped hi hat, open hi hats, 16th note hi hats, 4 way coordination and  time signature changes. The book ranges from grade 1 to 3.

The last book focused on grades 1-2, so this book is focusing on the high end of grade 1 and up to grade 3 level. The book would be an ideal add on for anyone studying Grades 1-3, and in particular grads 2-3. To achieve grade 3 and possibly grade 4 level, the exercises would need to be played precisely, with correct dynamics, speed and fluidity.

Demonstration Video

There is a video accompaniment with timestamps for every exercise in this book here: https://youtu.be/jMT9UHOBHNM

About the book

This is the second book in the series, following directly on from “40 Beats and Fills Exercises (Grade 1-2)”. There are 40 exercises over 12 sheets, and a bonus sheet 13. There is also a warm up sheet, which can be played at the start of a lesson if you are studying some of the book.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoy working on this book or teaching with this book. Stick the metronome on and get into each exercise. Aim to repeat each exercise at least 2 times (ideally 4 or more). You could do 4, or keep repeating until you are happy with it. If you have done the sheet a few times before, perhaps 2 times each would be sufficient. Start without the metronome first if you are needing to slow down and learn each one. Slow it right down if it’s tricky and really make sure to play it properly. It’s better than trying to messily play it too fast.

Kind regards to you all,

Theo Lawrence / TL Music Lessons

40 Hip Hop and Funk Skip Beats and Fills Exercises ebook – Grades 3-8

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Introduction

This book contains drum beats and drum fills in the styles of Hip Hop, Rap, Grime and Funk, Soul and Rock/Pop. The book has some grade 3-4 level exercises and also some harder ones, ranging from Grade 5 to Grade 8. The book would be an ideal add on for anyone studying Grades 5-8, as many of the skills are needed at this level. To achieve grade 8, the exercises would need to be played precisely, with correct dynamics, speed and fluidity.

Video

You can use this video as a guide for when you are practicing the book but get stuck on a particular exercise – just look up the timestamp link below. Like I say later in the video, the book is not designed to be played in one go and you should focus on 1 or 2 sheets per session and really drill down those grooves and get the fills correct and precise. Precision is key with all of these exercises, no matter what speed you play them at.

Free PDF Sheets to browse or use before buying the book

People that might find this book useful

  • Drum teachers can print the book or single sheets for their students. They may like to select only some pages to teach if the students are not up to Grade 6 level. The flicks between ability levels and is not necessarily in order of ability. To achieve grade 8, the harder exercises would be played fluently and precisely at speed.
  • Drummers can teach themselves following on from a strong foundation in reading and playing at Grade 3 and above.
  • Drummers that want to learn funk and hip hop beats and fills in depth

About the book

The structure of the book is based on one of my favourite books “40 Beats and Fills Exercises (Grade 1-2)”. There are 40 exercises over 11 sheets, and I have also included 2 bonus sheets with basic skip beats with 8th note hi hats and 16th note hi hats, which adds an extra 20 exercises, but I’m not counting those in the title.

I created the book so that my students could study skip beats at grades 3-4 level and also for my students working on Grades 5, 6 and 8 (I usually skip grade 7) to work on alongside their grades.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoy working on this book or teaching with this book. Stick the metronome on and get into the groove. Repeat for less or more than 4 times for each exercise, it’s up to you. To extend the exercises, try playing the beats on the ride cymbal and adding in left foot hi hat ostinati.

Theo Lawrence / TL Music Lessons

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Intermediate Drum Warm-Up – Part 1

You may also be interested in this drum book: Intermediate Beats Fills and Exercises, which focusses on Rock, Pop, Funk, and progressive styles.


Following on from the Drum Lesson Warm Up posted a few days ago, this intermediate drum warm-up is for drummers that have reached a higher level of ability (about Grade 4-6 but could be used by higher grades too).

Exercise 1 – Intermediate Snare Warm-Up

Each of the 4 lines starts with a paradiddle, then the second half changes each time. The first line is singles, the second line is doubles, the third line is 4 with each hand and the 4th line is a 3-3-2 pattern (RLLRLLRL).

Intermediate Snare Warm Up

Exercise 2 – Paradiddle Drum Beat with Sticking Patterns on the Drum Fill

Using the sticking from exercise 1, we change the paradiddles into a drum beat by moving the right hand to the hi hat and the left hand to the snare drum. The drum fill then borrows the sticking we used in exercise 1, from the second half of each line.

ex2 - intermediate drum warm-up

Exercise 3 – Funk Rock Drum Beat and Drum Fill working on fast double bass drum with 1 foot

A rhythmic bass drum pattern with 16th note hi hats followed by a drum fill that works on the bass drum.

ex3 - intermediate drum warm up

Exercise 4-7

You can continue onto exercises 4-7 here: Intermediate Drum Warm-Up – Part 2.

Drum Lesson Warm Up

5 warm up exercises for the start of a drum lesson. Sticking patterns, drum beats, drum fills and beats with 4 way co-ordination.


These exercises that would be a good warm up at the start of a drum lesson or at the start of a drum practice session. Anyone from Grade 1 up to Grade 6 could use this as a warm up. It would be quite a challenge for grade 1. For a grade 6 player, they should be able to play through this quite quickly.

Exercise 1:

Snare drum exercise with a RRRR LLLL RLRLRLRL sticking pattern.

Snare drum exercise with a RRRR LLLL RLRLRLRL sticking pattern.

Exercise 2:

A drum fill exercise using a RRRR LLLL RRLLRRLL sticking pattern.

A drum fill exercise using a RRRR LLLL RRLLRRLL sticking pattern.

Exercise 3:

A 3 bar drum beat with open hi hats and drum fill exercise using Exercise 2 as the drum fill

A 3 bar drum beat with open hi hats and drum fill exercise using Exercise 2 as the drum fill

Exercise 4:

Working on a 16th note hi hat pattern and moving that to a snare drum whilst adding a stepped hi hat to work on 3 way co-ordination.

Working on a 16th note hi hat pattern and moving that to a snare drum whilst adding a stepped hi hat to work on 3 way co-ordination.

Exercise 5:

Drum grooves focusing on 3 way co ordination and 4 way co ordination between both hands and both feet.

5 warm up exercises to do at the start of a drum lesson

8 funk rock drum beats with 16th note hi hats

To play these drum beats you must follow a RLRL pattern on the hi hats, and move over to the snare on beats 2 and 4 with the right hand (all opposite for left handers). The bass drum foot is doing all the work here but you will also need to make sure to lock in tight where the bass drum is played together with the left hand on the hi hat, as these can sometimes go out of sync.

As the year draws to an end, we still have 4 weeks of lessons left to prep for exams and I have some Grade 5 drummers taking their exams in Feb/March. To give them a break from their pieces and bolster their playing, reading and listening ability of Grade 5 level, I’ve been getting them to play these 8 drum beats. We’ve done a mixture of reading, groove recall and also playing from memory. The beats are not easy at first, but they get easier. We’ve also expanded the exercises, for example play a crash on the first bar and play each beat 3 times and then make up a drum fill for the 4th bar, either a whole bar or part of the bar.

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