House
House is electronic dance music built on a kick drum on every beat, at about 120–128 BPM. It grew out of Chicago clubs in the 1980s, and its feel comes from what fills the gaps between kicks: off-beat hats, off-beat bass and piano stabs.
The loop
- Bar 1Am7
- Bar 2Fmaj7
- Bar 3Cmaj7
- Bar 4G7
Four bars over Am7, Fmaj7, Cmaj7, G7. Mute a track or solo it to hear what each part does; tap any box to change it.
The recipe
The patterns this loop is made of. Point at one, or tap Show, to light up its lanes on the grid.
- Four-on-the-floor
The kick on every beat.
- Backbeat
A clap on 2 and 4.
- Off-beat open hat
An open hat between every kick.
- Off-beat bass
Bass in the gaps, on each chord’s root.
- Piano stabs
Short seventh chords off the beat.
- Sidechain pump
Bass and chords duck under each kick.
- Call-and-response hook
A two-bar hook on a pluck.
How it fits together
Almost everything in this loop lands between the beats. The kick takes the beat; the open hat, the bass and the piano stabs all take the “and”. That is where the bounce comes from.
The sidechain pump ties it together: every kick ducks the bass and chords for a moment, so even held notes move with the beat.
The loop in words
- Kick: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16.
- Snare and clap: steps 5 and 13 of 16.
- Hats: steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16.
- Bass: steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16, each held for 2 steps.
- Chords: steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16.
- Lead: E5 on steps 1 and 17 of 32, each held for 2 steps; D5 on steps 4, 11 and 20 of 32, notes held for 1 and 6 steps; C5 on steps 7 and 23 of 32, each held for 2 steps; A4 on step 27 of 32, each held for 6 steps.
- Chords: Am7, Fmaj7, Cmaj7, G7, one bar each, in A minor.
- Tempo: 124 BPM, no swing.
How to ask an AI music tool for it
Name the patterns instead of the genre alone. These are the words that describe house precisely; use the ones you can hear in your reference.
| Say | It means |
|---|---|
| four-on-the-floor kick | a kick on every beat |
| clap on 2 and 4 | the backbeat, played by a clap |
| off-beat open hats | the “tss” between kicks |
| off-beat bassline | bass notes in the gaps between kicks |
| piano stabs, seventh chords | short, bright chords off the beat |
| sidechain pumping | everything ducks under the kick |
| 120–128 BPM, 8-bar phrases | the tempo and how sections are counted |
Neighbours
Drum & bass
170–176 bpmA fast two-step break and a growling bass
Signature: Two-step breakSame chords. The kick skips into a two-step break, the bass turns into a growl and the tempo jumps to 174.
Reggaeton
88–100 bpmThe dembow rhythm: boom ch-boom-chick
Signature: DembowKeep the steady kick, slow down to 95 and move the snare into the dembow’s “ch-boom-chick”.
Make house yourself
The course starts with the beat under every genre and builds up from there. Unit 1 is free: sign up with Google and start the first lesson in your browser.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; the parts of house come one chapter at a time.