Four on the Floor Drum Pattern

A kick on every quarter note with open hats on the off-beats. The engine of house, disco and techno.

124 BPM0% swingHouse

Steps

Punchy house kick, bright hats, big clap

808 bass & chords

Fm7 → A#m7 → Fm7 → A#m7

Chord sound
808
CHD
Fm7 · then A#m7, Fm7, A#m7 on later loops

The 808 follows the chord root in each bar; set a step's offset to walk the bassline. Pads hold until the next chord hit. Stabs are short.

Click a step once for a hit, twice for an accent, three times to clear. Space plays/stops, T taps tempo, R makes a random beat.

Export
Saved beats (0)

Nothing saved yet. Beats stay on this device only.

How to program it

  1. Kick on every quarter note: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13.
  2. Clap or snare on beats 2 and 4 (steps 5 and 13), layered with the kick.
  3. Open hi-hat on each off-beat: steps 3, 7, 11 and 15. This is the "tss" between every "boom".
  4. Optional: closed hats on all 8ths and a touch of swing (5–15%).

The grid above is already loaded with this pattern: press Play, change a step, then download it as WAV or MP3. Want a different version? Open it in the full beat maker with the AI pattern writer and coach.

For a whole page about this style, see the house beat maker.

Step chart · one bar of 16th notes, numbers mark the beats

Questions

What does four on the floor mean?

It means the bass drum is played on all four quarter-note beats of every 4/4 bar, so the kick pedal hits "the floor" four times per bar. It became the defining rhythm of 1970s disco and later house, techno and much of EDM.

What genres use four on the floor?

Disco, house, techno, trance, most EDM, a lot of dance-pop and some rock (for example, many dance-rock tracks). Reggaeton also keeps a kick on every beat under its dembow snare.

What BPM is four on the floor usually played at?

Commonly 115–130 BPM for disco and house, 125–140 for techno and trance. The pattern works at any tempo; the genre sets the speed.

Is this a house drum pattern?

Yes. Four on the floor with off-beat open hats and claps on 2 and 4 is the standard house drum pattern, normally at 120–128 BPM.

More drum patterns

Basic rock beat (4/4)Boom bapTrap: half-timeTrap: hi-hat rollsUK drillLo-fi hip hopReggaeton (dembow)AfrobeatsFunky breakbeatDiscoTechnoHalf-time grooveShuffleDrum and bass (two-step)UK garage (2-step)Jersey clubPhonkFunk groove