Virtual Drums

Each labeled pad represents one part of a drum kit. Click or tap a pad to hear one hit. On a computer, use the key printed on that pad; the labels matter more than memorizing someone else's keyboard layout.

Try counting "1, 2, 3, 4" aloud. Hit kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. Then count "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" and add a closed hi-hat on each spoken word. You are playing three jobs at once: low pulse, backbeat and subdivision. If it falls apart, remove the hi-hat and rebuild the layers slowly.

The kick is the low thump. It often marks where a beat begins, though it can also land between beats. The snare is the sharp hit commonly heard on 2 and 4 in many pop and rock grooves. The closed hi-hat makes short repeated ticks, helping your ear track smaller divisions of time.

An open hi-hat rings longer and can make one moment stand out. Toms give you pitches between kick and snare that work well in a fill. A crash often marks the start of a new section; a ride can carry a repeated pattern with a longer ring than a closed hi-hat. These are jobs you can test by replacing one sound while keeping the timing unchanged.

Here, every hit happens when you trigger it. That makes timing and coordination the exercise. The Drumlab Drum Machine lets you place hits in a repeating grid and hear the same pattern loop. Use the kit when you want to perform a rhythm; use the grid when you want to inspect or edit one.

Play kick on 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4 for four bars. Keep the volume and spacing even. On the fifth bar, add one extra kick just before beat 3. If you can hear the extra push without losing the count, you have begun to make a groove rather than recite a pattern.