Classic groove · Steve Gadd · Paul Simon, 1975
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
103 BPM · one bar · sixteenths, four steps to the beat · simplified for the grid
16 steps · a brighter cell is an accent · the darker columns mark the beats (4 steps each). Rows used: Hi-hat, Snare, Kick.
What the drums do
A drum-corps sticking moved onto the kit: a linear line of sixteenths handed between the kick, the hi-hat and quiet snare notes, with the hi-hat foot doing half the work on the record. Simplified — Gadd's second half of the bar has a four-stroke ruff the grid cannot hold.
Steve Gadd
- Read the Steve Gadd feature →Who they are, how they play, and what to listen to next.
- Steve Gadd's drum rig in the Rig Vault →The kit, snare, cymbals and hardware this was played on, era by era.
- 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at 103 BPM →The song page: the tempo, the metronome at that tempo, and the drum part.
How to use it
- Open it in the lab and press play. Listen for the beats the note points at before you look at the grid.
- Tap ½ speed and play along on a pad or the kit until the placement is yours, then let it back up to 103.
- Change one thing. Move a kick, drop a ghost note, add an open hat. The groove is a starting point, and the lab saves what you make of it.