Quiet Storm Groove drum pattern
A soft two-bar quiet storm groove: a cross-stick on 2 and 4, a feathered kick, whisper-quiet eighth-note hats with a few 16th pickups and a floor-tom swell at the end of the phrase. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 66 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Quiet Storm Groove
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 cross-stick ballad pocket).
The Quiet Storm Groove 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- ---- |
| Cross-stick | ---- x--- ---- x--- | ---- x--- ---- x--- |
| Closed hat | o-o- o-o- o-oo o-o- | o-o- o-oo o-o- o--- |
| Low tom | ---- ---- ---- ---- | ---- ---- ---- --ox |
Tempo and feel
Hushed and velvet. Nothing is louder than a speaking voice; the groove is a cushion for the singer. The default tempo is 66 BPM. It plays with 53% 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 Quiet Storm Groove
Play the hats and cross-stick at the quietest level you can keep even. Add the kick as a felt note, not a heard one. Add the bar-two floor-tom swell without speeding up.
Variations to try next
Swap the cross-stick for a soft snare in the last chorus. Play the hats with a brush on the snare instead. Leave the floor tom out for a sparser loop.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Smokey Robinson - Quiet Storm, Anita Baker - Sweet Love and Luther Vandross - So Amazing. A drum-set study of quiet storm R and B, the late-night format named after Smokey Robinson's 1975 song by way of Melvin Lindsey's show on Washington DC's WHUR, which began in 1976. Many of these records used drum machines, very light kit playing or brushes; this kit version keeps the soft cross-stick, feathered kick and quiet hats rather than any one record's programming. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.