Articles

The Different Types Of Blast Beats

Here's a quick rundown of the major different sorts of blast beats, their names, quick tab notation on how they are played, and examples in songs. I've seen a lot of contradictory info on this, but hopefully these definitions jive with the majority. And note, what the cymbals are doing can vary as the drummer adds accents or just doubles up to add more sound.


Blast Beat Origin

Skank Beat, Polka Beat:
umpa, umpa, snare and bass drum alternate, One foot
Slayer's Raining Blood (0:53-1:22)
C- x---x---x---x---|
S- --o---o---o---o-|
B- o---o---o---o---|
Inverse Skank Beat:
Hands locked, backwards Skank Beat, One foot
Cannibal Corpse's Gutted (1:31-1:54)
C- x---x---x---x---|
S- o---o---o---o---|
B- --o---o---o---o-|

Standard

Traditional Blast, Grind Beat:

Fast skank beat, One foot and 2 foot variants
Napalm Death's Scum (1:19-1:35)
Vader's Silent Empire (0:04-0:20)
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o|
B- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Inverse Traditional Blast:
Hands locked, backwards Traditional Blast, One foot
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
B- -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o|
Unison Blast, Suffo Blast, Hammer Blast, Down Blast, Hyper Blast:
Snare, cymbal and bass drum all together, One foot and 2 foot variants
Suffocation's Liege Of Inveracity (0:01-0:20)
Cryptopsy's Cold Hate, Warm Blood (0:54-0:59)
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
B- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
Gravity Blast, Rim Blast:
Traditional blast but with 16ths on snare, One foot and 2 foot variants
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- oooooooooooooooo|
B- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|

Bomb

Bomb Blast:

Traditional blast but with double bass underneath
Malevolent Creation's Tasteful Agony (0:09-0:19)
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o|
B- oooooooooooooooo|
Inverse Bomb Blast:
hands inverted
C- -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x|
S- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
B- oooooooooooooooo|
Unison Bomb Blast:
Unison blast but with double bass underneath
Cannibal Corpse's I Cum Blood (0:05-0:19)
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|
B- oooooooooooooooo|
Gravity Bomb Blast:
Gravity Blast with double bass underneath
Origin's Perversion Of Hate (1:11-1:36)
Cryptopsy's Carrionshine (0:47-0:54)
C- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S- oooooooooooooooo|
B- oooooooooooooooo|

Specialty

Sandoval Blast:

Inverse Traditional blast, but with 2 hits of the bass drum instead of the single, alternating with snare
Morbid Angel's Pain Divine (0:14-0:27)
Devin Townsend's Deconstruction (6:51-7:16)
C- x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|
S- o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---|
B- --oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo|