Classic House
Four-on-the-floor kick, offbeat closed hats, clap on 2 and 4. The genre in eight bars.
1234
Hi-hat
Clap
Kick
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House Drum Patterns
Four-on-the-floor house patterns — the kick on every beat, the hat between them, and the clap answering on the backbeat.
2 patterns 120–130 BPM Free MIDI
Drum kit
Real recorded kits, not synthesised. Loads on first play.
Open Hat House
Open hats on the offbeats give the classic disco lift. Add a sixteenth shaker on top and it becomes garage.
1234
Open hat
Hi-hat
Clap
Kick
Made with Drumloop AI — describe a beat and hear it in seconds.
Generate drum loops with Drumloop AIHow to play these house patterns
- Press play to hear the pattern, and follow the moving column on the grid to see where each hit lands.
- Slow the tempo down until you can play along comfortably, then raise it a few BPM at a time.
- Filled cells are full-volume hits and dim cells are ghost notes — play them much quieter, they matter more than they look.
- Download the MIDI to open the pattern in your DAW, or generate an original variation with AI.
How house drum programming works
House is defined by its kick: one on every beat, evenly spaced, unchanging. That relentlessness is the point. Because the pulse is never in question, everything else in the arrangement is free to syncopate against it, and the listener can dance without having to track where the beat is. It is the most functional drum pattern in popular music.
The second element is the offbeat hi-hat, sitting exactly between the kicks on every "and". That alternation — kick, hat, kick, hat — creates the forward propulsion the genre runs on. Add an open hat instead of a closed one and the lift becomes obvious; that is the sound of nearly every build in the genre.
The clap or snare lands on beats 2 and 4, borrowed straight from disco and funk. Tempo sits at 120–128 BPM, with 124 being the safest default. Set the metronome to 120 BPM to practise against, and browse the free house drum loop library for produced material.
House tempo and feel
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Typical tempo range | 120–130 BPM |
| Centre of gravity | 125 BPM |
| Character | Four-on-the-floor; 128 is the club standard. |
| Practise with | 120 BPM metronome |
| Loops at this tempo | 120 BPM drum loops |
Frequently asked questions
What is four-on-the-floor?
A kick drum on every beat of the bar — four evenly spaced kicks in 4/4. It originated in disco and became the defining feature of house, techno and most other dance music. Because the pulse is never ambiguous, the rest of the arrangement can syncopate freely against it.
Why are house hi-hats on the offbeat?
Placing the hat exactly between the kicks creates a continuous alternation that pushes the groove forward. If the hat lands with the kick, the pattern feels static; offset, it feels like it is moving. Using an open hat instead of a closed one exaggerates the effect, which is why builds almost always switch to open hats.
What tempo is house music?
120–128 BPM, with 124 as the most common default. Deep house sits at the slower end, tech house at the faster. Beyond about 130 the genre boundary shifts toward techno.
Where can I get house drum loops?
The free house drum loop library has royalty-free recorded loops you can use straight away. Drumloop AI will also generate an original house loop at any tempo from a text description.
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Need an original house groove?
Describe the beat you want and Drumloop AI generates it — original, royalty-free house drums at any tempo.