How to Write a Technical Drum Beat • Music Theory from TesseracT "Natural Disaster"

Hack Music Theory

How to Write a
Technical Drum Beat.

Free PDF Tutorial
includes multitrack MIDI file

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Intro.

If you’ve been in the Hack Music Theory family for a while, you’ll know we love technical drum beats! And there probably ain’t nothin’ more tech’ than polymeters*. While polymeters were relatively popular with those bold “modern classical” composers of the early 20th century, they haven’t been used much since then.

And yes, over the last few decades there have been a few rare examples of polymeters in popular music. But, it wasn’t until a group of hairy Swedes with exceptional talent (otherwise known as Meshuggah) came along and re-popularised the polymeter.

What made Meshuggah’s polymeters unique, though, is their genius idea of having their drummer’s hands (snare & cymbals) play in 4|4 as the one time signature, while his feet (kick) play in an odd time signature, like 17|16.

The genius of the Meshuggah method is that listeners can nod (or mosh) along to the 4|4 time signature, while the odd time signature slithers around unpredictably. The brilliance of this can’t be overstated. They created a way to play in odd time while the audience dances in 4|4.

To get an idea of how weird odd time signatures sound without this method, listen to “March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails. They alternate three bars of 7|8 with one bar of 4|4. And while we love this song, you have to have a relatively high level of music theory knowledge just to be able to dance along to it. That’s obviously not ideal for the average listener. Also, 7|8 isn’t even that weird. Meshuggah uses far weirder time signatures! But, because they’re playing them against 4|4, you can dance along.

Meshuggah’s method has become a favourite for prog/tech bands over the last couple decades, and TesseracT are one of them. Their new album “War of Being” kicks off with a great polymeter (in the track “Natural Disaster”) which finds them adding a few creative twists to Meshuggah’s method.

So, inspired by “Natural Disaster”, here’s our 6-step method for making technical polymetric drum beats. But first… Tea!

*If you’re new to polymeters, it’s the term for playing in two (or more) time signatures simultaneously.

Step 1. The Even

When it comes to the Meshuggah polymeter method, the one time signature is usually 4|4 played by the drummer’s hands (snare and cymbals), so that’s where we’re gonna start. And this is where TesseracT brings their first creative twist to the table. This type of polymeter almost always loops every eight (or sixteen) bars of 4|4. However, TesseracT loops their polymeter every four and a half bars!

So, set your DAW’s time signature to 4|4. Then, create a loop on your drums track of four bars and a bar of 2|4 at the end, making the polymeter’s loop a total of eighteen 1/4 notes. And for this step you can set your grid to 1/8 notes.

If you look up the tempo of this song online at one of the many BPM websites, they say the tempo is 165 BPM. But, the pulse of this song (measured in 1/4 notes) is clearly half that, so set your tempo to 82.5 BPM. It might not seem like that’ll make any difference, but at 165 BPM all the notes values will be twice as fast as their normal range. For example, a 1/4 note pulse, which is the range your heart beats in when it’s resting, will instead feel like you’ve just been for a really fast run!

Now, draw in 1/8 notes on your crash (or hi-hats, if you don’t want the section to sound heavy). Then, draw in a regular backbeat snare, which is on beats 2 and 4.

4|4 pattern consisting of 1/4 note pulse on crash and regular backbeat snare (highlighted)

Step 2. The Odd

Right, now it’s time to get this polymeter party started, so change your grid to 1/16 notes. TesseracT chose 17|16 for their odd time signature, so we’ll use it too. It’s a super fun time signature, because it’s only one 1/16 note longer than a bar of 4|4, so it feels like a slightly stretched out 4|4. Now, spend some time making a creative kick pattern in 17|16 (i.e. the pattern’s length is seventeen 1/16 notes). You can play two or three (or more) consecutive 1/16 notes, but be sure to leave some rests too, as that contrast will actually make your drums groove way more!

Kick pattern in 17|16

Step 3. The Extra

Okay so while that previous step was straight outta Meshuggah’s polymeter playbook, this step is a creative addition (literally). Usually this is where you would copy and paste your 17|16 kick pattern all the way to the end. And honestly, that sounds really cool! However, when every song follows the same formula, it does get old. So just like Meshuggah have added countless creative twists to their own polymeter method, TesseracT have also brought their own flavour into the mix.

Start by copying your 17|16 kick pattern and pasting it on beat 1e of the second bar. Then if you have any kicks that fall on regular backbeats (beats 2 and 4) under the snare, mute those kicks. It sounds tighter when the snare doesn’t have a kick with it.

17|16 kick pattern copied and pasted (highlighted), with kick muted that coincided with snare

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s second bar]

Now, here’s the first TesseracT twist. Add one kick somewhere in your second bar.

One kick added for variation, making polymeter harder to follow

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s second bar]

Why add a kick? Well, two reasons. Firstly, it creates a little variation, which keeps things fresh. Secondly, it makes your original 17|16 kick pattern less recognizable, which makes the 17|16 time signature less rigid, so the polymeter sounds fluid.

Now, here comes the second TesseracT twist. They add an extra kick to the end of their 17|16 pattern, turning it into a 20|16 pattern. This is super creative. While the first twist made the original 17|16 kick pattern less rigid, the second twist goes so far beyond that, that the pattern isn’t even in the same time signature anymore!

You can do this like Tesseract, and add one kick to the end of your 17|16 pattern (in the third bar of 4|4), or you can add a couple kicks, it’s up to you. Just make sure that this second bar of your kick patterns adds up to 20|16 when you’re done.

17|16 kick pattern extended to 20|16 by adding one kick to the end (highlighted)

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s third bar]

Step 4. The Middle

Okay this step is proper quick and easy! Simply copy and paste your original 17|16 pattern into your kick’s third bar, which starts on beat 2e in the third bar of 4|4.

As usual, though, remember to check if you have any kicks that fall on snare hits. If you do, mute those kicks. That’ll keep your drums sounding tighter and neater!

17|16 kick pattern copied & pasted into third bar, with kick muted that coincided with snare

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s third bar]

Step 5. The End

The end is in sight. So, to finish out your drum beat, copy and paste your original 17|16 pattern. Polymeters can get confusing the longer you go, so just to confirm, make sure that you pasted your 17|16 pattern on beat 2+ of your fourth bar. And once again, if you have any kicks that fall on snare hits, mute those kicks.

Now, here’s the next TesseracT twist. If you count from the beginning of this 17|16 pattern (starting on beat 2+ of the fourth bar) to the end of your drum loop, you’ll notice there’s an extra 1/16 note. In other words, this last kick pattern is actually in 18|16.

Let’s take a minute to appreciate all TesseracT’s twists. Instead of their kick just repeating a 17|16 pattern, it’s ended up with almost every bar being different: a bar of 17|16, then a bar of 20|16, then a bar of 17|16 again, then a bar of 18|16. If you like maths, that’s a total of seventy-two 1/16 notes (i.e. eighteen 1/4 notes).

17|16 kick pattern copied and pasted (highlighted), with kick muted that coincided with snare

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s fourth bar]

To make the end of your kick pattern a stronger and more stomping ending, delete the kicks in your fifth bar (i.e. the bar of 2|4). Now, draw in kicks on beat 1+ and beat 2+. This simplicity after all that complexity will not only give your listeners a little breathing room to recover, but it’s also a heads-up that the loop is about to repeat.

Last two 1/4 notes of kick pattern are simple, revealing the cycle to listeners

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s fourth bar]

Step 6. The Accents

This step is the cherry on top. We’re gonna throw in a few accents on other cymbals. You can use another crash, a china, or even a ride or open hats. Start by accenting the first beat in each bar of your kick pattern, then add a few other accents for spice.

Accent every beat 1 of kick pattern with a cymbal (highlighted)

A few other cymbal accents (highlighted) added for interest

Step 7 (Bonus). The Riff

Yes this is a drums PDF, but TesseracT’s riff is so good that we just had to include a quick bonus hack about it. They use the half-whole diminished scale, which we recently taught in our Octatonic Riff PDF. Here are the notes and their spelling:

Half-Whole Diminished Scale

1	♭2	♯2	3	♯4	5	6	♭7
A	B♭	B♯	C♯	D♯	E	F♯	G

There’s a weird enharmonic there (i.e. calling the ♯2 a B♯ instead of just saying C, which is what it is in practice). There’s a good reason for that, but this is a big topic, so if you’re interested in learning this scale, read the Octatonic Riff PDF.

Now, if you wanna write a riff to go along with your drum beat, copy and paste your kick pattern into your bass track. But, remember to unmute all the kicks you muted because they fell on snare hits, otherwise you’ll miss some notes. You now have the riff’s rhythm. Next, move the notes up and down to fit the scale. And finally, boil the kettle, make a tea, and get ready for your very own polymeter party!

Riff in the half-whole diminished scale (riff’s first note highlighted for reference)

Make Music You LOVE.

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

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