Subdivided 8th Note Blast Beat

For this 'blast beat' you will be playing eighth notes on the kick and a cymbal then adding a snare between them on the sixteenth note count. The point of a blast beat is to be incredibly noisey and aggressive and this form of blast does that by creating a very fast 'wall of noise' style sound. These grooves are usually used at high tempos, but be sure to make sure you have the part down accurately slowly before pushing the speed. To get you started I'll give the groove as subdivided quarter notes first (basically the groove played as eighth notes) then the pattern will be developed through each exercise.


Example 1

In this slowed down version you will be playing the numbered counts on the hi hat and kick then on the '+' counts you will be adding snares. Notice that the hi hat and snares create a single stroke roll with the kicks playing quarter notes.

The subdivided eighth note blast beat as quarter notes

Use this exercise to get comfortable with the pattern this groove uses. Aim for a tempo between 180bpm and 200bpm before progressing.


Example 2

You will then double the note values to create a version of the final groove. Again, it might help to approach this as a single stroke roll split between the snare and hi hat with the kicks playing eighth notes.

The subdivided eighth note blast beat

Aim for a tempo between 160bpm and 170bpm before progressing.


Example 3

What you may have noticed with the previous exercise is that keeping the groove going for an extended period of time is very draining. One thing that can help with this is to use a double kick pattern for the feet. This example will sound exactly the same as example 2 only two feet are used. Notice here that the hands are playing singles as sixteenth notes and the feet are playing singles as eighths.

The subdivided eighth note blast beat with double kick

Aim for a tempo between 170bpm and 180bpm.


TASK

  1. Apply a blast to a structured pattern either as the groove or fill.
  2. Experiment with the orchestration of the grooves.

Lessons

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