Your first groove

Free

First groove

Play the backbeat over two bars: kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, a crash to start.

The pattern

Bar 1

Kick

Crash

Snare

Bar 2

Kick

Crash

Snare

Bright cells are accents, dim ones are ghost notes. Each row is a pad; each column is a 16th note.

What you'll play

Play the backbeat over two bars: kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, a crash to start. Bar 1: crash and kick together on 1, snare on 2, kick on 3, snare on 4. Bar 2 is the same, plus one extra kick on the "and" of 3. "Boom, bap, boom-boom, bap."

Tip: Fingertips, curved fingers, wrists slightly raised and loose.

Hear it first

Count "1, 2, 3, 4" out loud with the playback. Clap on 2 and 4. Hear the extra kick in bar 2.

Play it clean

Left index plays the kick, right index the snare, right middle the crash. Tempo climbs 70 → 80 BPM in 5 BPM steps as you play clean loops. Pass with 85% as the tempo goes 70 → 75 → 80 BPM.