60s Girl-Group Beat drum pattern
A two-bar early-60s girl-group beat: bar one plays the boom, ba-boom kick figure with the snare alone on beat 4, and bar two fills in a full backbeat over the same kick. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 128 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the 60s Girl-Group Beat
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar 16th-note boom, ba-boom, crack phrase).
The 60s Girl-Group Beat 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 | Bar 1 | Bar 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | X--- --x- X--- ---- | X--- --x- X--- ---- |
| Snare | ---- ---- ---- X--- | ---- X--- ---- X--- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- |
Tempo and feel
Big and simple. The kick figure should sound like a timpani hit, and the lone beat-4 snare in bar one should crack like a door slam. The default tempo is 128 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the 60s Girl-Group Beat
Play the kick figure alone and sing boom, ba-boom. Add the lone beat-4 snare in bar one as the loudest note of the phrase. Add bar two with its extra beat-2 snare and keep the hats light throughout.
Variations to try next
Loop bar one alone as an intro. Play the hats as straight quarters. Add a floor tom on the and of 4 in bar one.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include The Ronettes - Be My Baby (Hal Blaine), The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me, The Chiffons - He's So Fine and The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey. A style study of the early-60s girl-group beat after Hal Blaine's intro to The Ronettes' "Be My Baby", cut with the Wrecking Crew at Gold Star Studios for Phil Spector: a boom, ba-boom kick with the snare alone on beat 4, then a full 2-and-4 bar. The Jesus and Mary Chain opened "Just Like Honey" with the same beat. Castanets, tambourine and echo are folded into the hats.