The drunk beat

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
My son claims he can sell recorded sample packs of my Guru drums, both individual drums and beats on full sets. So we are starting a project concerning that.

Apparently there is a thing called drunk beats, which he says would sell really well.

An example of a drunk beat would be 8ths on the hi hat, snare on 2 and 4, kick on 1 and 3.

Except you keep the hats on the click, flam the bass drum ahead of the click, and flam the snare drum behind the click.

And all the other combinations keeping the hi hat straight.

My son was trying to get me to rush the hi hat with the bass drum flam. That was tough, I wasn't ready for that yet.

My point is after trying my whole life to NOT play like that...playing "badly" is hard! I have to be ultra precise especially when flamming the bass drum. I had a hard time, my flam gap was too big. Closing that gap...I still don't have it or anything. It's hard for me to flam ahead with the bass drum and get it just right so it makes the desired effect. It's like anti groove, but in time. Drunk groove. I personally don't have any use for it, but it's a great mental control exercise. And hey if I can sell some drunk beats? Heck yeah I'd like to get back some of the dough I spent on the Gurus.

Anyone heard of drunk beats ? (They could go under another name)
 
Last edited:
When I first heard John Bonham I thought that's what he was doing.
I later learned to appreciate his playing. But early on he sounded like a drunk drummer to me.

.
 
Hi Larry,

I think I know what you mean. Some folks call it a "J Dilla" type of beat. Checking artists out like D'Angelo and Flying Lotus as well as the aforementioned J Dilla would be a good place to start. Also look at the recent Zildjian Underground series on YouTube.

Best of luck!

 
Hi Larry,

I think I know what you mean. Some folks call it a "J Dilla" type of beat. Checking artists out like D'Angelo and Flying Lotus as well as the aforementioned J Dilla would be a good place to start. Also look at the recent Zildjian Underground series on YouTube.

Best of luck!


Yea, like that lol. Playing like that by myself is a challenge. I'm not sure if I should practice it, it might filter into my regular playing lol.
 
Umm, rather than "practice" this type of beat, why not just hit record while you're drinking and see what happens?

Trust me, after half a dozen pints, you'll be nailing it.
 
I've been working on these crazy independence exercises, where at some point in sheer craziness I sound like that. Didn't realize I was nailing them. ?
 
Those beats are quite common within (alternative) Hip Hop and, as mentioned, J. Dilla (whose influence on creating beats can never be praised enough) was indeed the master of them..
 
I practiced for years to NOT sound like that. It’s not comfortable for me to listen to.

However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder... it’s just not gonna be me.
 
At the sweetwater GearFest I attended Daru Jones’ event. He played through about 8 tracks. At first I thought he goofed. Then I thought he couldn’t hear his monitors. Then, about 15 minutes into his demo, I realized it was intentional (I’m a little slow).

The first question from the gallery was how he learned to play like that. His response was, he was recording a hip hop album and figured the producer would quantize his beats so he just laid down very sparse notes “here and there”. The producer, J Dilla, thought it was pure genius. Nothing was quantized and now that’s what he’s known for.

No fancy fills, a crazy feel to the time that seemed to stretch the tempo, and a solid note on the “1”.

 
Last edited:
Daru Jones is an amazing player..

Also Nate Smith knows a little about the subject..

That Crazy Beat video is fairly known i guess and here is another one..

 
That sounds terrible. It sounds like something my dogs would leave in the yard. ???
I agree. Sounds "broken" to me.
How do you know if they even mess up? Is the 1 even in the "right" place?

It was kinda funny in that Zildjian video, the guy(s) in the crown "trying" to dance (or..sway) in time.

No Sir, I don't like it.

T.
 
An example of a drunk beat would be 8ths on the hi hat, snare on 2 and 4, kick on 1 and 3.

Except you keep the hats on the click, flam the bass drum ahead of the click, and flam the snare drum behind the click.

"Drunk Beat"? And here I've been calling it "Swing". I think of it as playing a Rock beat with a slight swing, or sway, rather than trying to sound like a drum machine. But Charlie Watts is my hero, so what do I know.

My version is to play the bass drum on the beat, play the backbeat on the snare WAY late, and play the hats with a very slight shuffle or skank (Ska) feel.
 
That Nate Smith video is good.

I fully agree that this is SUPER hard to do and make it sound tasteful. As well as sounding on purpose and not like you are just a sloppy player.

I am a lock it to a grid type guy but in the right context I really dig this stuff..
 
"Drunk Beat"? And here I've been calling it "Swing". I think of it as playing a Rock beat with a slight swing, or sway, rather than trying to sound like a drum machine. But Charlie Watts is my hero, so what do I know.

My version is to play the bass drum on the beat, play the backbeat on the snare WAY late, and play the hats with a very slight shuffle or skank (Ska) feel.
I agree, it does drive some bass players crazy but others love it for the bit of swing it implies!
 
I fully agree that this is SUPER hard to do...

That depends. If you're trying to shape the beat a number of different ways, then it's difficult to do. If you're only using one variation and it's just your particular style, it's difficult to play any other way. I have a hard time locking into a grid pattern.

I agree, it does drive some bass players crazy but others love it for the bit of swing it implies!

The irony is that when the band really starts swinging, I tend to straighten out my time. I figure that when they're doing more challenging stuff, that's a good time for me to give them a steady metronomic beat to lean on. As long as somebody is bringing a bit of swing, we're good.
 
Last edited:
I agree, it does drive some bass players crazy but others love it for the bit of swing it implies!
In the podcast that those Questlove quotes I posted come from, he said that when he started playing the Dilla beat during a Roots show with no prior-planning, just to impress D'Angelo, his bass player ran over to him and said, 'What the hell are you doing?'
 
Last edited:
I don't get it. That sounds like a comment made by someone who's never listened to a live drummer in their life. Almost any drummer with any skill will rush some beats and hesitate on others to create a slightly asymmetrical sound - even if they don't realize they're doing it.

What am I missing?
 
Back
Top