Hey all what's up! I am a guitarist with very basic understanding of drums as far as notes in the pattern are concerned. I am trying to program some more death metal type stuff in to my drum machine, and wonder if someone can help clarify some stuff for me concerning blast beats, and what is going on with the kick pedal during it. I will try to be as clear as possible here. So, In theory I understand during a general/simple blast pattern, that the snare and High hat are coming down and hitting at the same time, I assume on the beat itself, such as (1-2-3-4) (2-2-3-4) (3-2-3-4) (4-2-3-4)etc..., but what are the kick drums doing during these patterns? Is the kick lineing up with the whole notes like (1left-2right-3left-4right) etc, are they double time,(1left,right-2left,right-3left,right-4left,right) Quad time, Blasting as fast as possible in conjunction with the whole note snare and high hat pops? etc.. Thanks in advance, any and all help appreciated.

Well, from what I've heard, there are a variety of different ways you can play on the bass drum(s) and the snare in blast beats.

For instance (this is all that I can think of in like 5 minutes):

...1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
Hh|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Sn|--x---x---x---x-|
Bd|o---o---o---o---|

Hh|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Sn|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
Bd|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|

Hh|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Sn|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
Bd|oooooooooooooooo|

Hh|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Sn|--x---x---x---x-|
Bd|oooooooooooooooo|

These are sort of basic blast beats that I've heard and am trying to learn. The faster they are, the more "blastier" they are in my opinion, if that makes any sense. But of course you can go too fast to where it sounds ridiculous.

There are many things you can incorperate with blast beats; triplets, 32 notes, tom rolls. It's just like anything with drumming; take the most basic beat, and add on to it all these different elements. Try like irregular groupings, like a group of 7 sixteenths being played in one beat. It's like painting a picture; you have your drawing, and all you need to do is analize the subject and capture the patterns, the gradation and contrast from light to dark and dark to light, making sure the picture is well balanced and nothing sticks out too much.

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I do these aboult 60% of the time.

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Excellent, I will try these out this weekend. Thanks for the help!

Thanks dude, will give this a shot as well. I appreciate the feedback!

Hh|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Sn|--x---x---x---x-|
Bd|oooooooooooooooo|

These are my favorite for high speed grinding. (The 4th example)

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The ones I recently started doing (as inspired by The Black Dahlia Murder). It sounds better with ride than with hihat, though.

Hh|o---o---o---o---|
Sn|-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o|
Bd|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|

You have to play them fast enough to sound good. Oh, and double the hihat (or ride) on this pattern and you've got the most used blackmetal blast. Haven't seen it in the previous posts, I thought.

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Thanks for the feedback, I got busy this weekend so didn't have time to try any out, but I definatly plan on it this weekend. Thanks again everyone!

No problem, my fellow padawan. May the Force be with you.

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There are a few different kinds of blasts that I havn't seeen mentioned here.

there is, what I consider to be, the most basic:

sd:*L*L*L*L*L
bd:R*R*R*R*R*/R*L*R*L*R
hh:R*R*R*R*R*

These can be played at all speeds. I personally prefer these for most situation
because they sound fuller to me w/ the alternation of bass+snare. When they are fast enough it's basically like playing a fast single stroke roll but with right hand on high hat and left on the snare.

I'm shocked that I have seen no mention of this beat because I thought of it as the most basic blast! Played slower it sounds more like a basic thrash beat but w/the cymbal accents on the front beat, a nice alternative to straight-up thrashing all the time
When playing grind/metal speed I almost always use the double base variation.

another variant is the double base blast with the alternate R/L sticking like this:

sd:*L*L*L*L*L
bd:RLRLRLRLRL
hh:R*R*R*R*R*

But, in situations where I use this beat I prefer to play it like this, with my right hand on the snare drum:

sd:L*L*L*L*L*
bd:RLRLRLRLRL
hh:*R*R*R*R*R

I think it sounds fuller for some reason. Also, my right hand is stronger so it gives the snare more pop.

I think the best blasts are the varied kind. Blast get kinda boring after awhile IMO so it's best to mix them up alot.

ONE FOOTED OLD SCHOOL PUNK GRIND BLAST!

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_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X left hand
s_s_s_s_s_s_s_s_s_s_s_s_ right right
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb



here are some, some are verbatim, i know.
.

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There is the gravity blast, which is more or less the one handed roll

like HH x x x x x x x
SD oooooooooooooo
BD o o o o o o o o o

i like your name, welcome

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heres some shit i play (i cant get the 32s past 120 bpm but a drum machine could i suppose) my tab format sucks but maybe u can figure it out


h x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---¦
s o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---¦
B x-x-x-x-xxxxxxxxx-x-x-x-xxxxxxxx¦