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How to learn beat box
Beatboxing is the musical expression of the body through the innovation of sounds and the crafting of music by only using the mouth, throat, and nose.
Contrary to common belief, beatboxing remains to be a rapidly growing art form that transcends the sole replication of drums and sound effects and into full musical performances. Beatboxing is a primal human art form that utilizes the physical body as a versatile instrument. Musical expression through the body stands at the core of human communication, making beatboxing the most organic art form.
Explore: Articles you must read
Beatbox history
Beatboxing fundamentally began in New York City in conjunction with the birth of the hip-hop subculture on the streets of Harlem. In the early to mid-eighties, three names stand out head and shoulders above the rest – Darren ‘Buffy’ Robinson, Doug E Fresh and Biz Markie. They are crowned as the first three pioneers of beatboxing in their own respective and innovative ways. Although the four elements of hip-hop, MCing, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti, have garnered great respect in the global art community, we are still working on fully documenting beatbox history.
Read more:
Beatbox History: Old School
The scene today
Thanks to the internet, beatboxing has become a global phenomenon enjoyed by millions internationally. Battles and jams are held all over the world with the two largest events being the Beatbox Battle World Championships held every three years by Beatbox Battle TV and the annual Grand Beatbox Battle hosted by Swissbeatbox.
There is also an incredibly large online community with beatboxers congregating on servers such as teamspeak. Other popular platforms include Whatsapp, Facebook groups, and Discord.
Communities and events
Beatboxing is all about the community. Don’t be shy! There are are numerous thriving local communities that may be in your area. If there isn’t a huge scene by you, you can always join us on Facebook and join the online community as well.
Resources:
Beatbox Communities
Events
Tutorials
Whether you’re completely new to beatbox and want to learn the fundamental sounds or if you’re a more experienced beatboxer looking to learn new sounds, there are numerous tutorials on YouTube that can help you started. You can also continue onto the next section to learn the first three sounds.
But because we’re so awesome, we’ve aggregated the best for you over on our lessons page.
Learn the sounds
Take some time to see the sounds section of the site. Here you will find all the basic sounds you need to start you on your beatboxing journey.
I recommend learning the following sounds:
- { B } Classic Kick Drum
- { t } Closed Hi-hat
- { Pf } Classic Snare Drum
Watch the videos over and over and over and over again. Don’t worry, you will be able to do these sounds with PRACTICE! Some people take minutes, some people take hours and some take days or weeks to master a sound, however, if you are persistent you will get there in the end.
Put the sounds into a beat pattern
Once you have learned the basic sounds you will probably want to put these in sounds into new beats. As daunting as it may seem to some of you, it is not really that difficult to make up beats. As you are new to the game, I suggest you start with the following simple beat pattern:
- { B t Pf t / B t Pf t }
This beat is kind of like the backbone for all beginner beatboxers. Learn it. Once you can do it comfortably without thinking you are ready to improvise on this pattern.
Improvisation isn’t too difficult to do either. Grab a pen and paper and write the pattern out. Try using Standard Beatbox Notation with the downloadable stave paper template.
For example, try changing the snare for a handclap, the kick for a nasal base, whatever you like. Go crazy. All that matters is that you can keep it in time.
Another great thing to do is to listen to your favourite songs (or any songs for that matter) and try to follow the beat. Try songs with simple beats to start with then work your way up to more complex songs later.
Resources:
Beginner’s guide to beat patterns
Beat patterns page
Note: The great thing about beatboxing is that it is about you. There are no set beats you need to learn apart from that basic pattern. Originality is what makes beatboxing fun and innovative. Don’t get people to write beats for you. You’ll discover that there is more satisfaction in spitting a beat you have worked out for yourself.
If you get stuck, try using the search facility – especially on the forum or Facebook pages. If, after an extensive search your question is still not answered, then by all means ask for some advice.
Learn some covers and experiment
Covers are always a fun way to improve your beatboxing. Nearly every cover done by the great beatboxers has been covered on the site or YouTube somewhere. You just have to look. If you really want to learn the cover you should be willing to spend the time to look for it.
It’s easier to pick songs you know and like, and any genre can be covered: dance, rock, punk, heavymetal, rnb, hip-hop, grunge, etc. Use your imagination. It’s all about listening to what you hear and replicating it. Imitate, then create!
We cover this in our article 5 stages of beatbox expertise as well.
And finally…
So there you have it, a beginners guide to beatboxing in three easy steps. To become good at beatboxing you need to use your initiative, your imagination, common sense, and also practice! I can’t stress this enough. You cannot learn to beatbox overnight, but there will be a moment where you just “get it” and everything clicks.
Most people on HUMANBEATBOX.COM have been doing it for years and are still learning new things all the time. The difference with more experienced beatboxers is that they don’t rely on others to tell them how to do something – they find out the way themselves.
We are here to teach you how to beatbox. You have to teach yourself to beatbox. There is a difference in the two.
“Give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach that person to fish and they will eat for a lifetime.”
Do you want to be a clone or unique? It is totally up to you. We can put you on to the path, however, it is up to you to choose your way.
Beatboxing is a fun way to add more music and creativity to your day-to-day life. And the best part is, it’s easy to learn and doesn’t involve buying an expensive instrument—you already have everything you need to start beatboxing today!
Before diving in, let’s answer a few frequently asked questions from aspiring beatboxers.
Beatboxing FAQs
Is beatboxing easy?
Like any skill, beatboxing requires a lot of practice. It may come a bit more naturally to people who understand the basic principles of how to create a drumbeat, but anyone can learn how to beatbox with enough dedication. We don’t normally use our mouth and throat to make drum sounds, so it takes time for our bodies to get used to it, perfect each sound, and develop muscle memory.
Can you teach yourself to beatbox?
You can absolutely learn how to beatbox on your own by watching online tutorials. If you’re a complete beginner, start with Richie Hiranandani’s Beatboxing 101 course—you’ll learn beatboxing basics, as well as a few really impressive special effects.
Once you’ve got the basics down, it’s all about practicing as much as you can and developing your own style.
Is beatboxing harmful?
Beatboxing using your mouth is completely harmless. Beatboxing using your throat is about as harmful to the vocal cords as singing.
For beatboxers who perform regularly and rely heavily on their throat to create special effects, there’s a small chance of running into issues like vocal strain and vocal nodules, but these can be easily prevented with proper technique and breath support.
All that to say, if you’re a casual beatboxer and you don’t overuse your throat, you’ve got nothing to worry about!
A Quick History of Beatboxing
Techniques similar to beatboxing have been around for centuries (have you ever heard of eefing?), Paul McCartney can be heard beatboxing in a 1969 record, and Michael Jackson was known to regularly beatbox as part of his songwriting process.
However, beatboxing as we know it today was born on the streets of New York in the early ’80s, along with the rise of hip-hop culture. The term “beat box” originally referred to just that—a box containing a drum machine. When rappers wanted to create music, but couldn’t afford a proper drum machine, they imitated the sounds with their mouths. Thus, a new art form was created.
Today, beatboxing is a must-have among acapella groups, and a well known art form in popular culture. The rise of online video has made it possible for people to not only learn how to beatbox, but also contribute to its evolution by innovating and sharing their skills.
How to Beatbox in 4 Steps
Step 1: Learn the Basic Sounds
First, let’s go over how to learn beatbox building blocks: drum sounds. The three most important sounds you need to know are the kick drum, snare, and hi-hat.
Kick Drum
Try saying “Boom” and notice the sound you make on the letter B—that’s your basic kick drum. From there, try to get more air through your lips, while still keeping them almost shut. You can add a pitch to your kick drum if you hum the rest of the word “Boom.”
Snare
Think of the “Pft” sound you make when you hear something laughable—that’s a great snare sound. Again, try to keep your lips as close together as possible, while purposefully expelling more air. Though there are many options for how to create a snare sound, this is a great one to start with when you’re just learning how to beatbox.
Hi-Hat
With your tongue hitting the back of your teeth, make the “Ts” sound. You can make it really short for a closed hi-hat sound or, if you want to imitate an open hi-hat, extend the “s” sound and open your lips slightly to let out a bit more air.
Step 2: Make a Beat
Once you’ve practiced these three basic sounds, it’s time to put them together. Don’t worry if they don’t sound perfect just yet—you can always refine them later.
Start by combining the kick drum and the snare. Here’s a simple pattern you can try: B—Pft—B—Pft—B—Pft—B—Pft
Once you’re comfortable with that, try adding a closed hi-hat sound in between like this: B—Ts-Ts-Ts—Pft—Ts-Ts-Ts—B—Ts-Ts-Ts—Pft—Ts-Ts-Ts
That’s all there is to it!
Step 3: Practice
When you’re first learning how to beatbox, every little bit of progress seems exciting and motivating. However, you’ll inevitably reach a point where it doesn’t feel like you’re getting much better. The key is to persevere past this point and keep practicing. Find any excuse to practice as often as you can—practice in the car, in the shower, or while you’re doing the dishes.
If you’re serious about learning how to beatbox, music should be your number one source of inspiration. Actively listen to your favorite songs, try to identify what individual drum sounds make up the beats, and beatbox along with them.
Step 4: Add in Special Effects
Once you’re comfortable beatboxing with the three basic sounds, it may be time to introduce some other special effects. Hiranandani covers a number of these in his Beatboxing 101 class, including how to do a throat kick, click rolls with the tongue, and imitate disc scratching. Be sure to check out the rest of his lessons and record a student project to show off your progress!
It is understandable that many individuals would like to beatbox as well as S&B. This may seem to be a daunting task at first, but beatboxing is not that different from normal human speech. You only have to start developing a rhythmic feeling, and you have to stress the pronunciation of certain letters and vowels until you can talk in the beatbox language. You’ll first start out with basic sounds and rhythms, and then advance to more sophisticated patterns as you get better and better.
Part1Basic Beatboxing Sounds
- 1Understand that there are many sounds to master. To get started, you should master the three basic sounds of beatboxing: the basic kick drum {b}, the hi-hat {t}, and the K snare drum {K}. Practice combining the sounds into an 8-beat rhythm like this: { b t k t / b t k t } or { b t k t / b b k t }. Make sure to get the timing right. Start off slowly and build up speed later.[1]
- 2Practice the classic kick drum {b}. The simplest way to make the classic kick drum is to say the letter “b.” To make it sound louder and punchier, you need to add more pressure with your mouth, and adding more air. This will create a lip oscillation. What you want to do next is shorten the lip oscillation so that there is only 1 short and punchy vibration. Another way to do this is to puff up your cheeks and push out the air.[2]
- 3Next, try to duplicate the hi-hat {t}. Whisper the word “tiss” quickly and try and make the gap between the “t” and the “ss” unnoticeable.[3]
- Breathe out for longer to create the open hat sound.
- 4Try to tackle the K snare. The simplest way of making a rimshot snare sound is to say the letter ‘k’ whilst having the tip of your tongue in the same place as the hi-hat. Do the K snare, you add a breath after the rimshot. Make sure that you still have your tongue in the same position as you add the breath. Do the same thing you did with the hi-hat and make the transition between the rimshot and breath seamless
- You can also do this sound while breathing inward by doing the exact same steps but breath inwards instead of outwards.
Part2Simple Beatboxing Sounds
- 1After mastering the three basic beatbox sounds, it’s time to move onto these simple techniques. These might be a little more difficult, but practice makes perfect.
- 2Master the P Snares. This is done by doing the exact same thing as the kick drum, but then you add a breath after it. You should get a “puh” sound. Put your teeth behind your bottom lip as if you were saying the letter F while doing the breath. Once you mix them together, you should get the PF snare. Do the same thing as you did with the hi-hat and K snare and make the transition quick and crisp. You can also swap out the F for an S or SH for a PS or PSH snare.
- Try to stop making the “f’s” stop just a millisecond or so after the “p.” Lifting the corners of your mouth and holding your lips really tight when making the initial “p” will help it sound more realistic. You can also use the same technique to change the apparent pitch of the snare.
- 3Add a cough snare to the mix. First say “ish.” Then, try saying “ish” without adding the “sh” at the end, again going only for the initial attack.[4] Make it very short, and you should get a sort of cough in the back of your throat. Add a loud whisper after that, and you will get the cough snare.
- Once you’re comfortable with that, you can also add the “sh” on the end and you’ll get another snare sound.
- 4Add a spit snare. The spit snare is mostly used in trap beats since it’s a very crisp and quick snare. You can also hum at the same time as this sound, allowing a to add some musicality to your arsenal. However, this sound is quite frustrating to learn so be patient.
- There are three variations of the spit snare: top lip, middle lip, and bottom lip. They don’t vary much in sound and they’re done in almost the same way, but some find it easier to do others. Try and find which one suits you the most.
- To do the top spit snare requires you to place your top/bottom lip tightly over the other, and blow. You should get a fart-like sound. If you let it out quickly, you will get the spit snare. Make sure that you fill your mouth with air instead of blowing so you can layer other sounds over it easier. Next, slowly push the air out. Once you’re able to do that, quickly force the air out, that is the spit snare.
- 5Add a reversed kick drum. This is a simple and easy sound to make. Stick your tongue out and and slight pressure from both top and bottom lips. Once you’ve done that, just suck in air. Your tongue should be sucked in and your lips will close with a sound like a higher-pitched kick drum.
- 6Don’t forget about the crash cymbal. This is one of the easier sounds to make. Whisper (don’t vocalize) the word “crash.” Then, do it again, but this take the vowel out, going from “cr” straight to “sh” without little or no transition, and you’ll have a basic crash cymbal.[5]
- You can also make a sound like the cymbal but reversed. Place the tip of your tongue where you would for a hi-hat. Keeping your lips about a half-inch apart, breathe in forcefully through your mouth. Notice how the air blows past your teeth and tongue and makes a sort of small rushing sound. Then, breathe in forcefully again, and this time close your lips as your breathing in; they should sort of feel like they’re popping closed, without making a popping sound.
- 7Don’t forget to breathe! You would be surprised at the number of human beatboxers who pass out because they forget that their lungs need oxygen. You may want to start by incorporating your breath into the beat. Eventually you will gain a great deal of lung capacity throughout your practice.
- There are many sounds that can be done breathing inwards such as variations on the snare and bass sounds.
- Develop your inward sounds technique. One thing that puzzles people is how beatboxers can beatbox for a long time without actually taking a breath. Well, the answer is to make a sound and breathe in at the same time! We call these inward sounds.[6] What is more, as you’ll discover, some of the best sounds are made like this.
- There are many ways of making inward sounds. Nearly every sound that can be made outward can be made inward – although it may take some practice to get it right.
- 8Hold the mic properly. Microphone technique is very important for performing or if you just want to enhance the sound made by your mouth. And there are different ways of holding the microphone.[7] While you can just hold the mic as you would while singing, some beatboxers find that putting the mic between your ring and middle fingers and then gripping it with your first two fingers on top of the bulb and your thumb at the bottom results in a cleaner, more crisp sound.
- Try not to breathe into the mic while you beatbox.
- Many beatboxers deliver a poor performances because they hold the microphone incorrectly and thus they fail to maximize the power and clarity of the sounds they produce.
Part3Intermediate Beatbox Techniques
- 1Once you’ve acquired basic and simple skills, it’s time to learn some intermediate techniques. Don’t worry if you have trouble picking them up right away. With practice, you’ll be able to do all of them eventually.
- 2Develop a lip bass sound (this is also known as a lip oscillation) (X). To do a lip bass, start out like you’re about to do a kick drum. Then let your lips loose so they flap when you push air past them, making sure to focus the vibration on on the front area of the lip. Then touch the tip of your tongue to the inside gum of your bottom teeth and push it forward to perform the technique. This sound can be pitched by adding more and less pressure with your lips. You can do a lip osccillation while humming if you harmonize or match the tones. Different sounds and pitches can be created by saying letters (while breathing out) like ‘s’ and ‘sh’.
- 3Work on a techno kick or throat kick technique (U). This is done by making an “oof” sound, as if you’ve just been hit in the stomach. Do it while keeping your mouth closed.[8] You should be able to feel it in your chest.
- 4Add a techno snare to the mix (G). This is done the same way as the Techno Kick, but position your mouth as if you were going to make a “shh” sound. You’ll still get the bass sound underneath.
- 5Don’t forget about rewind scratching. This is done by reversing the airflow of any of the previous techniques. A commonly misunderstood technique, scratching involves different tongue and lip movements depending on the instrument you are trying to “scratch” with. To understand better, record yourself laying down a beat. Then using a music program, like Windows Sound Recorder, listen to it in reverse.
- Some simple scratches can be done by breathing through a small hole in your mouth and chopping it by blocking the airflow with your tongue, doing a continuous k sound and chopping it with a short k sound, and breathing through a space between your teeth
- 6Work on jazz brushes. Lightly blow out through your mouth while trying to sustain the letter “f.” By blowing slightly harder on the beats 2 and 4, you’ll have the accents.
- 7Use tongue bass. Tongue bass is a very versatile, but easy technique to learn. One way to learn using this is to roll your ‘rs’. Once you learn to roll your ‘rs’ you add more pressure to create the sound.
- You can pitch this sound by changing the shape of your mouth from a smile to a “o”.
- There are many variations to this technique, such as teeth bass, which is a type of tongue bass where you place your tongue directly on your teeth.
- 8Practice humming the melody and beatboxing at the same time. This technique isn’t as difficult as singing, but when you’re just starting off, it is easy to get lost. To start, you must first realize that there are two ways to hum: one is from the throat (say “ahh”) and the other is through the nose (“mmmmmm”), which is considerably harder to get used to but immeasurably more versatile.
- The key to humming and beatboxing at the same time is to start with a baseline or melody in mind. Listen to rap hooks, whether they be hummed or not (For example, listen to Parliament Funkadelic’s “Flashlight” and practice humming the melody, then try beatboxing over top of it; James Brown is also great for melodies).
- Scour your music collection for baselines and melodies to hum, then try to put some of your beats or someone else’s beats over top of it. It is necessary to learn how to hum a melody or baseline for several reasons, especially if you plan to learn to start singing. This is the area of beatboxing that takes some originality!
- If you’ve tried to beatbox and hum at the same time, you must have realized that you’ve lost of some of your proficiency with certain beat techniques (the Techno Bass and Techno Snare are severely limited, as well as the click roll becomes, if not totally unusable, very hard to hear). Learning what works takes time and practice.
- If you ever find yourself in a beatbox battle, don’t forget that while your endurance and speed are important, using new and interesting melodies and baselines will always win the crowd.
- 9You’ll need to practice inward humming too. This is an advanced technique which is not widely used in the realm of beatboxing. There are several resources available on how to sing/hum inward. For the purposes of beatboxing, when you need to breathe really bad, it may be a good idea to hum inward. You can always continue humming the same melody, but the pitch (note) will change drastically.
- With practice, you can correct this pitch change to some extent, but many beatboxing experts who use inward humming decide to change the melody when switching from outward humming to inward humming.
- 10Adding trumpet sounds is a great way to mix it up. Hum falsetto (that’s high pitched – like Mickey Mouse).[9] Now, lift the back of your tongue to make the sound thinner and sharper. Add a loose, lip oscillation (classic kick drum) to the front of each note. Then close your eyes, let rip and pretend you are Louis Armstrong!
- 11Practice singing and beatboxing at the same time. The key is to line up consonant sounds with the bass and vowel sounds with the snare. Don’t bother adding a hi-hat, as even the best beatboxers have trouble in that respect.
- 12Another variation is to create a throat bass. Start by pretending to clear phlegm from your throat or growling like an animal. The resulting sound will be scratchy, so adjust the back of your mouth until you get a steady pitch. After you’ve achieved this, to make the sweeping sounds, shift the shape of your mouth and that will change the timbre while maintaining the pitch.
- You can change the pitch by changing the vibration in different areas of your throat. Two variations of this are the vocal bassline and vibration bass. The vocal bassline is using throat bass and using your own voice at the own time. Once you find the harmony between the two sounds it can add a useful layer to sing and beatbox at the same time.
- Caution: doing this for an extended amount of time can cause temporary inflation. Remember to drink lots of water.
Part4Singing and Beatboxing
- 1Sing and beatbox. Singing and beatboxing at the same time may seem like an impossible task (especially at first). But it’s actually quite easy. Below is a working sample that will help you get started. You can use this basic technique and later adapt it to any song.
- (b)if your (pff)mother (b)(b)on(b)(pff)ly knew(b)knew(pff) (“If Your Mother Only Knew” by Rahzel).[10]
- 2Listen to songs. Listen to the song you want to beatbox to a few times to find out where the beat goes. In the example above, the beats are marked out.
- 3Sing the tune a few times with words. This will help you get comfortable with the song.
- 4try to fit the beats with the lyrics. Most songs will have the beat in front of the words. In this case:
- “If” – Since the word “if” in our example starts with a vowel, it is easy to fit in the bass just before it, as though you were saying “bif.” Note however, that the “b” must be low and if necessary, separate the beats from the words a little when you first start.
- “Mother” – The word “mother” starts with a consonant. In this case, you could drop the “m” and substitute it with the “pff” since they sound quite close when said together quickly. Or, you could stagger the word just a little so that the beat comes first, and the lyric slightly delayed. If you choose the first, you will end up singing “pffother.” Notice that your top teeth contact your lower lip, which is what creates the m-like sound. If you can manipulate this, it will sound a lot better.
- “On” – For the double beat on “on,” you can hum the pitch while doing “b-b-on,” then come in straight away with “b pff-ly knew,” all the while humming the pitch. For the “on,” you might find that the sound breaks if you do the second bass beat. To remedy this, hum through your nose. This can be done simply by pushing the back of your tongue up to close off against your soft upper palate. This hum now comes out through your nose, and is not interrupted by what you do with your mouth.
- “Knew” – The word “knew” echoes and fades off.
- 5Adapt this skill. These steps can be adapted for any song with a beat. Keep practicing, with different songs and soon you will be able to ad-lib more easily.
Part5Technical Beatbox Techniques
- 1An easy way to do a technical beat is to do a continuous C sound (not K snare K sound, but the K sound you would do while saying “cat”), and a short hi-hat repeatedly.
- 2Another easy way to do a technical beat is by doing a short hi-hat, C sound, then a rimshot.
Part6Patterns
Modified Drum Tab
The first line is for the snare sound. This can be a tongue snare, a lip snare, or any other snare. Next is the hi-hat line, and the third is the bassline. Another line can be added at the bottom for miscellaneous sounds, which should be defined below the tab and apply only to that pattern. Here’s an example:
S |—-|K—|—-|K—||—-|K—|—-|K—| H |–T-|–T-|–T-|–T-||—-|—-|—-|—-| B |B—|—-|B—|—-||B—|—-|B—|—-| V |—-|—-|—-|—-||–W-|–W-|–W-|–W-| W = Vocalized “What?”
Beats are separated by single lines, bars by double lines.
Kick & Bass
Snare
Hi-Hat
Other
Basic Beat
This is the basic beat. All beginners should start here and work their way up.
S |—-|K—|—-|K—||—-|K—|—-|K—| H |–T-|–T-|–T-|–T-||–T-|–T-|–T-|–T-|
Double Hi-Hat
This one sounds cool and is a good exercise for speeding up your hi-hats without using the successive hi-hat sounds.
S |—-|K—|—-|K—||—-|K—|—-|K—| H |–TT|–TT|–TT|–TT||–TT|–TT|–TT|–TT|
Modified Double Hi-Hat
This is a more advanced beat that should only be attempted if you can successfully do the Double Hi-hat pattern with perfect accuracy. It switches up the rhythm in the Double Hi-hat pattern to make it more interesting.
S |—-|K—|—-|K—||—-|K—|—-|K—| H |–TT|—-|TT–|–TT||–TT|—-|TT–|–TT|
B |B—|–B-|–B-|—-||B—|–B-|–B-|-B–|
Intermediate Beat
This is a very easy beat. You can try it if you’ve mastered the above patterns as well as the TK technical combo.
S |—-|K—|—-|K—||—-|K—|—-|K—| H |-tk-|-tk-|tk-t|-tkt||-tk-|-tk-|tkSS|–tk|
B |B–b|—B|–B-|—-||B–b|—B|–B-|—-|
Techno Beat
S |—-|G—|—-|G—||—-|G—|—-|G—| H |–tk|–tk|–tk|–tk||–tk|–tk|–tk|–tk|
Drum and Bass Basic Beat
S |–P-|-P–| |S |-P–P|-P—-P-| H |—-|—-|{3x}|H |—–|-.tk.t-t|
Simple but Cool Beat
This beat has 16 beats in it. ch4nders split it into 4 beats. it sounds cool when it is faster
|B t t t |K t t K |t k t B |K t t K |
MIMS “This is Why I’m Hot” Beat
When it says D, do a quick double bass kick.
S |–K-|–K-|–K-|–K-| H |-t-t|t–t|-t-t|t–t|
The Classic Hip-Hop Beat
S |—-|K—|—-|K—| H |-tt-|-t-t|tt-t|-ttt|
Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” Beat
For the t line, you actually click your tongue. The number three represents a relatively open mouth, for a higher more open sound. One represents a small “O” shaped mouth, for a low tongue click, and 2 is somewhere in the middle. The beat is quite easy, and you can practice doing just the bass and snare until you feel ready to add the tongue clicks. Additionally, you may add a high pitched “Snoooop” humming in your throat. Listen to the song to see what it’s like.
v|snoooooooooooooooo t|–3–2–|1–2—-| S|—-k—|—-k—| B|b–b–b-|–b—–|
v|ooooooooooooooooooop t|–1–2–|3–2—-| S|—-k—|—-k—|
Create your own patterns
Don’t be afraid to use odd sounding beats. Fool around with the location of the different sounds, as long as they flow.