Part Three of our electro-drum column, written by our consultant drummer Warren Cann of Ultravox, continues with some more examples of beats useful to the modern percussionist. As always in this series, the patterns shown are suitable for both the acoustic kit player as well as the programmer.

"This month I am moving on from the simplicity of previous patterns and introducing far more syncopation, especially in the bass drum part, and, in the last example, in the high-hat part. Apart from my first two examples all the snare drum lines retain the standard '2' and '4' beat format - for the time being anyway. I hope you enjoy playing, or programming, these patterns as they are ones that I am particularly fond of using."

11. Now we get away from 2 & 4 on the snare, this beat has straight 4's on the snare to double time the same tempo. Eighth notes on the high-hat but a more minimal bass drum part adds a Motown touch - there's only one in each bar! You can, of course, double the snare part on the bass drum and either keep the whole thing straight or include that bass drum off-beat.

12. Straight 4's on the snare, eight notes on the high-hat, and bass drum on the '3 and' and the '4 and', experiment with placing only off-beats on the bass drum in different places. If you play a bass drum off-beat all four times in each measure you have one of the commonest beats in rock and R&B, it just chugs along and holds everything together.

13. Straight eights on the high-hat, 2 & 4 on the snare drum, and bass drum on the 1 (the downbeat of any measure) and the '2 and'.

14. Sixteens on the high-hat, snare drum on the 2 & 4, bass drum on the '3 and' and '4 and'.

15. Snare on the 2 & 4, high-hat can be on either ¼ notes, ⅛ notes, or 1/16th notes, bass drum is on the '1', the '3', and the '3 and'.

16. The disco beat with a syncopated high-hat part, practising this is excellent for developing independence co-ordination if you're an acoustic kit player, if you're a programmer then you can come up with even more complicated variations of 16 beat syncopations.