Drill Hi Hat Pattern MIDI

Drill Hi Hat Pattern MIDI

Drill has a specific hi hat pattern. It helps to give it that Drill feel. Here's 10 patterns that can be used as the basis of drill beats.

1. Basic Drill Hi Hat Pattern

We'll start with the basic drill hi hat pattern. This serves as the basis of all drill and is the foundation of what we'll work with. All other hi hat patterns will be using this as the starting point. So let's take a listen and break it down:

here's the midi drum pattern.

Drill Hi Hat Pattern MIDI

 

2. With Triplets

This is taking the basic drill hi hat pattern and adding a couple triplets in place of a single note. I chose two areas to add in the triplet, but the concept can be applied to any notes that are part of the base pattern. Add in triplets where you see fit.

here's the midi drum pattern

Drill Hi Hat Pattern With Triplets 

3. Triple Double

Building off the triplets, I'll throw in some double as well. In this case we're going to keep the triplets where they are but throw in quite a few doubles. There's also a few singles in there as well.

The balance between the triplets, doubles, and singles fills up the space and creates a nice balance.

here's the midi drum pattern

Drill Hi Hat Pattern With Triplets and Doubles 

4. Ghost Hi Hats in Drill

Here we take the foundation drill hi hat pattern and we fill out all the spaces with ghost notes. This thickens up the sounds a bit and adds a bit of groove to the drill beat.

here's the midi drum pattern

Drill Hi Hat pattern with ghost notes filled in throughout
 

5. Note Down

At the end of the pattern, the last few notes keeps going down in pitch. This is another way to add interest to the foundation pattern without adding or removing notes. But by changing the pitch it creates a pattern that is familiar but all the same different, unique, and catches the listeners ear.

here's the midi drum pattern

Drill Hi Hat Pattern with Notes being Pitched Down

 

6. Sparse

Not going to pretend this is something super special or a hidden techniques. But, sometimes the best thing to do is remove notes. This is true in drill music in particular b/c it's so heavy on other sounds such as the bass.

Going sparse can also set up nicely for later in a song when you want to add more dynamics.

Here i just removed a few notes from the foundation pattern

here's the drill hi hat pattern midi for the sparse version

Drill Hi Hat Pattern with specific notes removed for a sparse feel

 

7. Multiple Hi Hats

When we think of hats we usually think of a closed hi hat, an open hat, and maybe a crash or cymbal to go along with them.

One way to get clever is to use a second closed hi hat. So you can follow the same drill hi hat pattern but switch up the notes between the two different hi hats.

In this case I alternate between to different hi hats.

here's the midi drum pattern

Two different hi hats being used to make up the drill hi hat pattern

 

8. Peaks And Valleys

I'm playing with the volume on these. I'm going to start with the base pattern and fill in the gaps like I did with ghost notes. But, instead of keeping them as ghost notes, I'm going to make them a bit louder.

A couple will build up in volume and there there will be a couple the go down in volume. 

Here's what it sounds like

here's the drill midi drum pattern midi illustrated

Volume changes going up and down as part of the drill hat pattern

 

9. Descend

This is like peaks and valleys but only focusing on down them of volume. We'll use the main drill drum pattern and fill in with notes that go down in velocity

here's the midi drum pattern

Drill Hi Hat Pattern where there are clusters of notes where the velocity progressively descends

 

10. Ascend

This is the opposite of descend. Again, starting with the main drill pattern and filling in notes. Only difference is this time, they ascend in velocity.

here's the midi drum pattern

Drill Hi Hat Pattern where there are clusters of notes where the velocity progressively ascends

 

Build Your Own - The Playbook

So these are good patterns to follow but the main thing is to learn the techniques and apply them yourself.

So here's what you do:

  • Start with the core pattern (the first pattern)
  • Add in one of the other techniques
  • Occasionally in your beat switch it up and use another technique
  • Or whenever your stuck and just want to switch it up, choose one of these drill hi hat patterns to mix in

Also try combining tips. For example:

  • Peaks and Valleys with Note down
  • Multiple Hi Hats With Triplets
  • Ghost Notes with Ascend

Speed Up Your Workflow of Making Drill Beats

If you're looking for more than drill hi hat patterns midi files and want more drill patterns, check out the Drill MIDI drums and guide. It's packed with 50 unique drill drum patterns that cover 8 bars total. MIDI files and stems included and is broken down into 6 unique parts:

  • Core drill patterns
  • Sparse
  • Xtra kicks
  • Snares Go Crazy
  • Mighty Hi Hats
  • Percolating

It'll speed up your workflow and you'll save hours of time making drill beats.

Fading Out

There it is, ten Drill Hi Hat Patterns MIDI images included.

Start with

Back to blog