Classic groove · Gregory Coleman · The Winstons, 1969
The Amen Break
136 BPM · one bar · sixteenths, four steps to the beat
16 steps · a brighter cell is an accent · the darker columns mark the beats (4 steps each). Rows used: Ride, Snare, Kick.
What the drums do
Bar one of the break that built jungle and drum and bass: ride eighths, snare on two and four with extra hits on the "a" of two and the "e" of three, a ghost on the "a" of four, and the two sixteenth kicks after the second snare. Bars three and four of the original are the famous displaced version.
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 136.
- 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.