Snare roll
A snare roll is a run of snare hits that doubles in speed before a drop: quarter notes, then eighths, then sixteenths, then rolls too quick to count. The tempo never changes, but the hits get closer together, so the music sounds as if it is rushing towards what comes next.
A snare roll is one part of a build-up. The build-up page plays a whole one, with the riser and the silence before the drop.
Also called build-up snare roll, snare build, drum roll before the drop.
Play it
- Bar 1Am
- Bar 2F
- Bar 3C
- Bar 4G
Faded lanes are a guide: they are there so the pattern has something to sit against. The loop runs over four chords, Am, F, C, G, one bar each. Tap any box to change it.
Try this
Try this · change one box
Take out the rolls of two at the end of bar 2. Without its fastest part the roll never arrives anywhere: the doubling is what builds the tension.
Learn this pattern step by step
The course builds up to it from Unit 1, which is free with a Google sign-in. It plays in your browser, like this page.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1, then Snare roll comes in Unit 7: Form and energy.
Hear it without the grid
A short recording of the loop above at 128 BPM, made with Swung’s own sounds.
How it works
Here it takes two bars of 32 steps: quarter notes for half a bar, eighths for the next half, sixteenths, then every step split in two. Each change doubles the hits and comes sooner than the last, so the ear expects the next doubling and leans forward.
In a track the roll usually runs over four or eight bars, gets louder as it goes, and stops dead a moment before the drop. The silence after it makes the drop land harder.
The pattern in words
- Snare: steps 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24; quiet on 1, 5, 9, 11, 13 and 15; rolls of two on 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 of 32.
| Part | Steps, 1 to 32 | Plays on |
|---|---|---|
| Snare | o···o···o·o·o·o·xxxxxxxx22222222 | steps 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24; quiet on 1, 5, 9, 11, 13 and 15; rolls of two on 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 of 32 |
x a hit, o a quiet hit, 2 or 3 a quick roll inside one step, – a note held on, · nothing.
Variations
With the kick underneath
A kick on every beat in the first bar, then the kick drops out.
A clap roll
The same doubling on a clap.
Eighths only
It stops at eighth notes, so the build never peaks.
Where it’s used
Also common in Trance, Big room house and Future bass.