Genre

Techno music: BPM, drum pattern and how to make it

Techno is electronic dance music built on a driving kick drum on every beat, at about 125–140 BPM, with few or no chords and long, hypnotic loops that change slowly. It was born in Detroit in the mid-1980s and grew harder and darker in Berlin and across Europe.

A driving kick, a rumble and almost no chords. Tempo 130 BPM in the loop below, no swing. Part of the EDM family.

The loop

130bpm

Tempo Swing 50% 4 bars

Kick

Clap

Open hat

Hatssixteenths

Rumblerumble

Acid rootacid

Acid octave

Acid fifth

Bar 1Am
Bar 2F
Bar 3C
Bar 4G

Four bars over Am, F, C, G. Mute a track or solo it to hear what each part does; tap any box to change it.

Make techno yourself

The course starts with the beat under every genre and builds up from there. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in, in your browser.

Pick up where you left off

Carry on with Unit 1; the parts of techno come one chapter at a time.

Start Lesson 1 free Continue learning

How to make techno

Start from an empty grid at 130 BPM and add the patterns in this order. Each step names the pattern, says where it falls in the sixteen steps of a bar, and lights its lanes on the loop above when you point at it or tap Show. The same loop is in the beat maker, if you would rather start from the finished beat and take things away.

Step 1 Four-on-the-floor
The kick on every beat, the engine of the track. On the grid: kick on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16.
Step 2 Backbeat
A clap on 2 and 4, quieter than in house. On the grid: clap on steps 5 and 13 of 16.
Step 3 Off-beat open hat
An open hat between every kick. On the grid: open hat on steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16.
Step 4 Rumble kick
A low rumble in the gaps after each kick. On the grid: rumble on steps 2, 6, 10 and 14 of 16, each held for 3 steps.
Step 5 Acid bassline
A squelching 303-style line on top, with slides and accents. On the grid: acid root on steps 1, 6 and 9; quiet on 2, 4, 8, 12, 13 and 15 of 16; acid octave on steps 3, 11 and 16 of 16; acid fifth on step 14; quiet on 7 of 16.
Step 6 Tempo and feel
Set the tempo to 130 BPM, no swing. The usual range for techno is 125–140 BPM.
Metronome

Also in the loop: quiet hats on every sixteenth.

Techno drum pattern

The drums on their own: one bar of kick, snare and hats at 130 BPM. This is the part people mean by “the techno beat”.

130bpm

Tempo 1 bar on repeat

Kick

Clap

Open hat

Hatssixteenths

Part	Steps, 1 to 16	Plays on
Kick	x···x···x···x···	steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16
Clap	····x·······x···	steps 5 and 13 of 16
Open hat	··x···x···x···x·	steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16
Hats	oooooooooooooooo	quiet on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of 16

x a hit, o a quiet hit, 3 a roll of three inside one step, · nothing. The named patterns: Four-on-the-floor, Backbeat, Off-beat open hat.

How it fits together

Techno keeps the kick of house but takes out most of the harmony. With few chords to follow, the track moves by sound instead: a filter opening on the acid line, a hat getting louder, a part dropping out for eight bars.

The low end is a rumble rather than a bass line. The kick is smeared with reverb and filtered dark, so a growl fills the gaps between kicks, and the two sound like one huge, rolling drum.

The loop in words

Kick: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16.
Snare and clap: steps 5 and 13 of 16.
Hats: Open hat on steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16; Hats on quiet on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of 16.
Bass: steps 2, 6, 10 and 14 of 16, each held for 3 steps.
Lead: Acid root on steps 1, 6 and 9; quiet on 2, 4, 8, 12, 13 and 15 of 16; Acid octave on steps 3, 11 and 16 of 16; Acid fifth on step 14; quiet on 7 of 16.
Chords: Am, F, C, G, one bar each, in A minor.
Tempo: 130 BPM, no swing.

Ask an AI for it

Text-to-music tools such as Suno, Udio and Stable Audio respond to the words producers use, so naming the patterns gets you closer than the genre name alone. The loop above is what this description means; press play, mute a track, and drop its words from the description to hear what each one changes.

“techno music, 130 BPM, driving four-on-the-floor kick, rumble kick, rolling low end, off-beat open hats, 16th hats, TB-303 acid line, hypnotic, minimal, few chords, dark, warehouse, industrial”

Say	It means
driving four-on-the-floor kick	a heavy kick on every beat
rumble kick, rolling low end	a dark low growl in the gaps after each kick
off-beat open hats, 16th hats	the “tss” between kicks and a steady tick on top
TB-303 acid line	a squelchy sixteenth-note synth line with slides
hypnotic, minimal, few chords	long loops that change slowly instead of chord changes
dark, warehouse, industrial	a hard, echoing, stripped-back sound
125–140 BPM	the tempo