Chicago Jack House drum pattern
A one-bar Chicago jack house groove: the kick on every beat, a clap on 2 and 4, open hats on the offbeats and shuffled closed 16th hats around them. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 124 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Chicago Jack House
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a. The pattern is one bar of 4/4 (one-bar 16th-note grid with shuffled closed hats).
The Chicago Jack House pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Kick | X--- X--- X--- X--- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Closed hat | xo-o xo-o xo-o xo-o |
| Open hat | --x- --x- --x- --x- |
Tempo and feel
Hypnotic and bouncing. The kick and clap never change level; the shuffle on the closed hats is what makes it jack. The default tempo is 124 BPM. It plays with 56% swing by default; move the Swing control toward 50% to hear it straight. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Chicago Jack House
Play the kick on all four beats at one level, then add the clap on 2 and 4. Add the open hat on every and, closing it with the next closed hat. Fill in the closed hats and let the e and the a of each beat sit slightly late.
Variations to try next
Set the Swing control to 50 percent for straight machine 16ths. Drop the closed hats and keep only the offbeat open hats. Mute the kick for a bar as a breakdown, then bring it back on 1.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Steve "Silk" Hurley - Jack Your Body, Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk - Love Can't Turn Around. A practice study of mid-80s Chicago jack house, born in Frankie Knuckles's sets at the Warehouse and Ron Hardy's at the Music Box and released on labels such as Trax and DJ International. Programmed on Roland 808, 909 and 707 machines: kick on every beat, a clap on 2 and 4, open hats on the offbeats and closed 16ths with the e and a pushed late by a 56 percent shuffle, an informed choice. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.