How to Make Beats for Beginners
Three sounds, sixteen steps, one tempo. You can have a beat playing in five minutes.
What You Need
A browser. Padwolf runs in it — free, no install, no account, on desktop or phone. An MPC or a DAW does more, but the core is the same everywhere: pads that hold sounds, and a grid that plays them.
Step 1: Load Three Sounds
Kick for the thump, snare for the crack, hi-hat for the tick. That's a beat. Padwolf opens with a kit loaded. To use your own, drag WAV, MP3, FLAC or OGG files onto the pads. Free kits: r/drumkits, Looperman, SampleFocus.
Load sounds in PadwolfStep 2: Pick a Tempo
Tempo decides the genre before a single note does. • Lofi: 70–85 BPM • Boom bap: 85–95 BPM • House: 120–128 BPM • Trap: 130–145 BPM, felt at half speed Not sure? 90.
Step 3: Program the Pattern
BPM
50%
Open the sequencer. Each row is a sound, each of the 16 columns a 16th note. Click a cell to switch it on. Kick on every beat, snare on 2 and 4, hat on every 8th. Press Play. That's a beat — it's the player below.
Try this pattern in PadwolfStep 4: Make It Yours
Change one thing, listen, change the next: • Move a kick off the beat — step 4 or 11 • Add a clap or rimshot next to the snare • Drop the offbeat hats to half velocity • Add swing Block B of the player above already does some of this. Switch to it and compare.
Genre Starting Points
Every genre has a drum skeleton. Learn it, then bend it. Boom bap and trap have their own guides — here are four more.
House — Four on the Floor (120-130 BPM)
BPM
50%
Kick on every beat, clap on 2 and 4, open hat between the kicks. That offbeat hat is the whole bounce of house. No swing. Variations change one thing each. Deep house: swung 16th hats at 118–122. Tech house: an extra kick on step 15. UK garage: kick on 1, then 9 and 11, with heavy swing.
Reggaeton — the Dembow (90-100 BPM)
BPM
50%
Kick and hat are plain. The snare is the genre: steps 4, 7, 12 and 15. That's the dembow — change it and it stops being reggaeton. Use a rimshot or a tight, high snare. For modern perreo, add a kick on step 15 and a ×3 hat roll at the end of the bar, at 95–100 BPM.
Afrobeats (100-115 BPM)
BPM
50%
A sparse kick that lands just before beat 3. The groove lives in the percussion — put shaker, log drum or clave on the spare pads.
Jersey Club (130-140 BPM)
BPM
50%
The kick is the lead instrument: fast doubles in odd places. Keep everything else simple. Vocal chops on the spare pads for the bed-squeak sound.
Step 5: Export
Export and pick a format: • WAV — for a DAW • FLAC — lossless, smaller • OGG — small, for sharing Save the project too, so you can pick it up again.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Beats are rhythm and feel. Copy patterns you like, then change them.
Kick, snare, closed hat, open hat, clap and one percussion sound. Everything else is extra.
Your first beat takes minutes. Your own style takes months. Finish beats — a finished average beat teaches you more than a perfect half one.
Yes. Padwolf runs in mobile browsers. Tap the pads, program the grid on the touchscreen.
No. They're starting points. Move one kick and it's yours.
Classic dembow: 88–95. Modern perreo: 95–100. Latin trap: 70–80, half time.