Boom Bap and Hip Hop Drum Patterns (demos and free MIDI included)

HERE ARE 8 BOOM BAP AND HIP HOP DRUM PATTERNS YOU CAN COPY, WITH DEMOS AND FREE MIDI!

What is a boom bap drum pattern? It's the classic 90s hip hop groove: the "boom" is the kick, the "bap" is the snare. The snare hits on beats 2 and 4, the kicks bounce around it, and the hi hats are swung so the whole thing nods instead of marching.

Boom bap drums look simple, but the feel is in the small stuff: where the kick lands, how late the snare is, and how much swing is on the hats. So for every pattern below you get the exact steps, a screenshot of the channel rack in FL Studio, a demo so you can hear it, and the MIDI to drag straight into your beat.

If you want the whole beat making process first, check out our old school hip hop beat tutorial. This post goes deep on one thing: the drums.

What makes a boom bap drum pattern:

• A slow, steady tempo. Most boom bap sits between 85 and 95 BPM. Lofi hip hop is usually a little slower, around 70 to 90 BPM.
• Snare on 2 and 4. This almost never changes. It's the backbone of the groove.
• Kicks that move. The kick always hits on beat 1, then lands in different spots around the snare. That's what gives each pattern its bounce.
• Swing. The off-beat hi hats (and sometimes kicks) are pushed a little late, which turns a stiff loop into a groove.
• Dusty, punchy sounds. Short kicks, fat snares and soft hats. If you need sounds, here are the best boom bap drum kits.

How swing works:

Swing pushes every second 8th note (or every second 16th note) a little late. At 50% everything is straight on the grid. At about 66% it becomes a full shuffle. Most boom bap lives between 54% and 62%. The patterns below say how much swing they use, and you can see it in the screenshots: the hi hats between the beats sit slightly to the right.

The free MIDI already has the swing written into the notes. If you program your own pattern in FL Studio's step sequencer, the Swing knob at the top of the channel rack does the same job.

How to read the patterns:

Each bar has 16 steps (16th notes). Step 1 is beat 1, step 5 is beat 2, step 9 is beat 3 and step 13 is beat 4. Every pattern is 2 bars long, and the demos play it twice. The drums in the demos are a punchy kick, a vintage snare, a closed hat and an open hat, with the same light clipping and saturation on every demo.

1. The Classic Boom Bap:

Kick on steps 1 and 11 (bar 2: 1, 8 and 11), snare on 5 and 13, hats on every 8th note, 58% swing, 90 BPM.

If you only learn one boom bap pattern, learn this one. The kick on step 11 (the "and" of beat 3) is what makes it bounce. In bar 2 a softer kick on step 8 pushes into the next snare.

2. The Ghost Kicks:

Kick on steps 1, 4 and 11 (bar 2: 1, 4, 10 and 11), snare on 5 and 13, hats on all 16 steps, 58% swing, 90 BPM.

A ghost kick is a quieter kick right before a main hit. Here they sit on step 4, just before the snare, and on step 10, just before the kick on 11. Turn them down (these are at about 55% velocity) so you feel them more than you hear them. The 16th note hats with swing keep it rolling.

3. The Laid Back Snare:

Kick on steps 1 and 10 (bar 2: 1, 7 and 10), snare on 5 and 13 played late, hats on every 8th note, 62% swing, 90 BPM.

The snare is moved about 50 milliseconds behind the beat. It's a small move, but it makes the beat feel relaxed and heavy, like the drummer is leaning back. In FL Studio you can do this by selecting the snare notes in the piano roll and nudging them right with snap turned off.

🔥 Pro Tip: move only the snare late, never the kick on beat 1. Beat 1 is what the listener locks onto.

4. The Ghost Snares:

Kick on steps 1 and 11 (bar 2: 1, 11 and 14), snare on 5 and 13 with quiet ghost snares on 8 (bar 2: 8 and 16), hats on every 8th note, 58% swing, 90 BPM.

Ghost snares are the same snare, played very quietly (about 40% velocity) between the main hits. They fill the space like a real drummer's left hand. The ghost on step 16 leads straight back into beat 1.

5. The Open Hat:

Kick on steps 1 and 11 (bar 2: 1, 3 and 11), snare on 5 and 13, closed hats on every 8th note except step 15, open hat on step 15, 58% swing, 90 BPM.

Swap the last hi hat of each bar for an open hat and the loop opens up right before it restarts. Keep the open hat short, so it doesn't ring into beat 1.

Hip Hop Drum Patterns:

Boom bap is one style of hip hop. A lot of hip hop drums use the same skeleton (kick on 1, snare on 2 and 4) with straighter hats and busier kicks. Here's one that sits between boom bap and modern hip hop.

6. The Hip Hop Groove:

Kick on steps 1, 7 and 9 (bar 2: 1, 7 and 12), snare on 5 and 13, hats on all 16 steps, 54% swing, 90 BPM.

The two kicks around beat 3 (steps 7 and 9) give it a strong bounce, and the light swing keeps the 16th note hats tight. If you want busier hats with rolls, check out our ultimate guide to hi hats, or let our free High Hat plugin write hi hat patterns for you.

Lofi Drum Patterns:

Lofi drums are boom bap slowed down and softened: lower tempo, more swing, quieter hats and a snare that drags behind the beat.

7. The Lazy Lofi:

Kick on steps 1 and 10 (bar 2: 1, 8 and 10), snare on 5 and 13 played late, hats on every 8th note, 66% swing, 80 BPM.

Full shuffle on the hats and a snare about 80 milliseconds late. It sounds almost sloppy on its own, which is exactly the lofi feel once you add chords and vinyl noise.

8. The Half Time Lofi:

Kick on steps 1, 7 and 12 (bar 2: 1, 4 and 12), snare only on step 9, hats on every 8th note with an open hat on step 15 in bar 2, 62% swing, 80 BPM.

With the snare only on beat 3, the beat feels twice as slow without changing the tempo. This is great for sad, spacious lofi and for the quiet parts of a beat.

For lofi melodies and drums ready to use, check out the best free lofi sample packs.

Download The Free Boom Bap Drum MIDI:

All 8 patterns as MIDI files, each 2 bars at the tempo above, with the swing, ghost notes and late snares exactly as you hear them in the demos.

The notes are on the standard drum keys: kick on C3, snare on D3, closed hat on F#3 and open hat on A#3 (FL Studio names, where middle C is C5). That means they line up with FPC in FL Studio and most drum plugins. Drag a .mid file onto an FPC channel and press play, or drag it into the piano roll and swap in your own sounds.

Add chords and a sample:

Boom bap drums are made to sit under a sample or a jazzy loop. Here's pattern 1 again with the Am9 to D13 vamp from our R&B chord progressions post on top:

Keep the chords out of the low end so the kick has room, and keep the drums a little louder than you think. In boom bap the drums lead the mix. Our guide on how to mix beats shows how to balance them.

Make your drums sound like a 90s record:

Change the velocity:

Real drummers never hit every note the same. Keep the hats on the beat louder and the ones in between softer, and keep ghost notes really quiet. All the MIDI in this post already does this.

Layer and filter:

Layer a clean snare with a clap or a rim at a low volume for a fatter "bap". Then roll off some high end on the hats with an EQ so they sound dusty instead of sharp.

Glue the kit together:

Send all your drums to one mixer track and add light compression or a soft clipper, so they hit like one sampled break instead of separate sounds. The demos in this post use a clipper and a little saturation on the whole loop.

🔥 Pro Tip: switch patterns every 4 or 8 bars (for example pattern 1 in the verse, pattern 4 in the hook) so a long loop doesn't get boring.

Want Free Drums For Your Boom Bap Beats?

The Icon Drum Kit is a free drum kit with 351 drum samples you can use for any style of track. The pack is 46MB and 100% royalty free.

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The Prime Drum Loop Pack has soulful and energetic drum loops, drum sequences, MIDI and basslines. The pack is 307MB, has 276 files and is 100% royalty free.

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CONCLUSION:

Boom bap drums are all about feel. The pattern itself is simple: kick on 1, snare on 2 and 4, hats in between. The groove comes from where the extra kicks land, a little swing and a snare that sits back. Start with one of the patterns above, then make it your own with your own sounds and small changes in timing.

To summarize, here's how to make boom bap drum patterns:

1. Set your tempo between 85 and 95 BPM
2. Put the snare on beats 2 and 4
3. Start with a kick on beat 1, then move the others around
4. Add 54% to 62% swing to the hats
5. Use ghost notes and velocity for a human feel

Thanks for reading and happy producing!

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Written by Luke Alderson