The Trap Beat
A slow, heavy backbeat under racing hi-hats: trap lives in two speeds at once. Feel the half-time groove, hear the 808 play the bass line, learn the hi-hat rolls in 32nds and triplets, and program a two-bar trap beat of your own at 140 BPM.
In this lesson you'll
- Feel the half-time groove: around 140 BPM with the clap only on beat 3 (step 9), so it feels like 70, and hear why the fast 3s land on the slow 2 and 4.
- Program hi-hat rolls: steady sixteenths, then 32nd notes (8 hits in one beat) and sixteenth-note triplets (3 in the space of 2, 6 in one beat), and hear the 3 against 2 inside the hats.
- Build a two-bar trap beat in A minor: clap on beat 3, a long 808 bass on steps 1 and 11 (A, A | F, G), hats in 16ths ending with a 32nd roll and a triplet roll, and play along.
Music in this lesson
- Trap Muzik (album)T.I. · 2003
Remember
Trap grew out of Southern hip hop in Atlanta in the 2000s; T.I.'s album Trap Muzik (2003) helped name it, and producers such as Lex Luger and Metro Boomin shaped its sound.
Half time: the tempo is around 140 BPM, but the snare or clap lands only on beat 3, so the groove feels like 70; underneath, the 808's long, pitched kick plays the bass line, and sparse, dark, often minor melodies leave room for the bass and the vocals.
The rattle: hi-hats run in fast 16ths, then roll in 32nds and triplets; fast hats over a slow clap make you feel two tempos at once.