Smells Like Teen Spirit drum pattern
Dave Grohl's verse and chorus back to back: a pushing kick pair under eighth-note hats, then the chorus with its syncopated kick, extra snares around beat 3 and a cymbal on every beat. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 117 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Smells Like Teen Spirit
Count it as: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & · two bars. The pattern is a 2-bar phrase in 4/4 (two-bar verse-and-chorus 16th-note study).
The Smells Like Teen Spirit 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 ---- X-xx --X- |
| Snare | ---- X--- ---- X--- | ---- X--X -X-- X--- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-o- x-o- x-o- | ---- ---- ---- ---- |
| Open hat | ---- ---- ---- ---- | X--- x--- X--- x--- |
| Pedal hat | ---- o--- ---- o--- | ---- ---- ---- ---- |
Tempo and feel
Straight and aggressive without rushing. The backbeat is the event; the chorus snares around beat 3 should be as strong as the backbeat. The default tempo is 117 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Smells Like Teen Spirit
Loop the verse bar until the kick pair on 1 and 3 is even. Learn the chorus snare on 2, the a of 2, the e of 3 and 4 slowly. Switch bars without the tempo moving.
Variations to try next
Loop only the chorus bar. Play the chorus cymbal as eighth notes. Open the hat on the and of 4 at the end of each verse phrase.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana - In Bloom and Pixies - Debaser. Reference-informed study of Dave Grohl's grooves in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", following published drum tabs. Bar one is the verse (kick on 1, the and of 1, 3 and the and of 3 under eighth-note hats); bar two is the chorus (kick on 1, the a of 1, 3, the and and a of 3 and the and of 4, extra snares on the a of 2 and the e of 3, cymbal on every beat). The crash is played on the open hi-hat.