Talk:Amen break

Amen break is currently a Music good article nominee. Nominated by 🌙Eclipse ^(talk) ^(contribs) at 14:10, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

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Short description: Widely sampled drum break

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The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

Kemp, Sam (September 20, 2021). "The most sampled band in music: The history of the 'Amen' break". Far Out. Retrieved May 15, 2023.

Drumming tabs

Could someone please write a caption? What do the letters mean? H=Hi-hat and S=Snare? What is the K then? Kick bass? Happily ever after 15:52, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's not terribly useful anyway as it only shows the first bar of the break. (The rhythm changes near the end of the break.) Ben Finn 13:45, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The image seems to be wrong. The third K shouldn't be there. It's not there in the notation at www.joejahnigen.com, and I can't for the life of me hear it in the song. Can someone fix this? --Justin —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.134.241.226 (talk) 04:35, 13 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is there as a ghost note, very quiet but there, and on the first 2 bars only. I will make a new tab, someone let me know if it's right or wrong! Tom Barlow (talk) 14:05, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The tabs are wrong. I'm sure. You can check it out for yourselves in any drum machine. Here is the good one (the basic form at least):

 h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-
 ----s--s--s--s-s
 k-k-----kk------

The two snares on the offbeat (each with a HH before it) at the end give it it's distinct ending. And the two short kicks start at the middle (5th HH) with a snare right before, and they land another snare on the beat (6th HH). 89.37.145.35 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 12:44, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why is this even tabbed if the music is right above it? 150.209.41.11 (talk) 02:51, 1 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

the tab

The tab on this page is a bit confusing. Most drum notation has the hi-hat on the top rather than the middle. may a propose taking one from the blast beat and d-beat pages and use a similar notation?

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
h- x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x
s- --------o-----o---o-----o----
b- o---o---------------o-o------

Barsofclay 21:50, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's a ride, not a hi-hat. Anyone agree? Tom Barlow (talk) 13:10, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, it's definitely a ride. Will (talk) 03:44, 13 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I extended it to 4 bars of the break (adding 3 bars and leaving the bar that was already there unchanged). I researched it on the web and couldn't find any authoritative source, but I found some info in this forum [1] and tried playing it myself. It may not be 100% accurate, but I think it has the basic structure right. Asmoe (talk) 23:31, 2 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The 3+ of the last two bars of the break currently has two sixteenths on the bass drum, when on both occasions it should only be a single eighth note.

The tab in the abovementioned forum post has ride and crash simultaneously in the last bar, but the tab in the article only has the crash by itself. I'm not a drummer, so it's hard to tell or know which tab is correct. 77.40.137.24 (talk) 15:40, 7 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I compared the tab posted to the one provided in "Unlocking the groove: rhythm, meter, and musical design in electronic dance" by Mark Jonathan Butler, and replayed both in a drum sequencer. The one in the book is definitely closer to the original. Can it be cited? The real difference is that the one from the book got no double sixteen bass hit in the 2nd half of the 3rd and of the 4th bar. The resulting effect sounds much more like what is in the article Corpster

overhyped

I think this is just another case of overhyped urban legend. This kind of break is pervasive in most R&B and soul music of mid sixties. For a relatively mainstream example listen to the drum line in Jimi Hendrix's Fire. That was recorded in 1967. DnB took these loops an played them faster. That's all.

no, on the most part DnB and jungle took this loop in particular (as well as the funky drummer and the think break) and played it faster. --Kaini 17:44, 17 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hip Hop

Actually the first Hip Hop track to use this break was Salt n' Peper's "I Desire" produced by Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor released in 1986. I think this section; "The first Hip-Hop producer to dismember the drum sounds of the Amen break and reprogram them into a new pattern was Mr. Mixx of 2 Live Crew on their 1987 song "Feel Alright Y'all" from the Move Somethin' album, followed by the Mantronix sample-heavy track "King of the Beats" in 1988." , needs to be rewitten to accommodate this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sureshot2k0 (talk • contribs) 00:33, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Beginning drummers are often taught it as a first exercise"

I'm a drum teacher, and I know a fair few others. I've never heard of any of them teaching this groove as a first excercise (and I certainly don't either), the various difficulties inherent in a rhythm like this would be beyond the capabilities of any drummer I'm teaching for the first time. To me it sounds like a throwaway bullshit comment. I'm loathe to remove it from the article myself as I'm not sure of the ins and outs of Wiki editing, but I thought I should definitely flag it for someone else to have a look at!-- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.31.35 (talk) 12:27, 30 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Given that the section is about hip hop, perhaps it should read "Beginning hip hop drummers are often taught it as a first exercise.", does anyone actually teach "hip hop drumming"? Do hip hop drummers even use drums? Perhaps they're taught about it, not taught how to drum it. 64.231.137.251 (talk) 04:02, 24 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Corporate America

"While the (less than six second) "Amen Break" is recognizable in many genres (corporate America, Hip Hop, Rock etc)," - what does that first genre sound like exactly? Lfh (talk) 06:58, 14 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mono image enough

Image:Amen break sample image.png is a image of two channels? Wouldn't a single channel be enough for a good image? Jidanni (talk) 07:09, 28 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mono image enough

Image:Amen break sample image.png is a image of two channels? Wouldn't a single channel be enough for a good image? Jidanni (talk) 07:10, 28 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, this shows both the left and right channels of the sample, if you look closely some of the lines differ. Since we live in a Stereo (2 Channel) age, most things are recorded in Stereo. You are seeing both channels. 68.33.55.228 (talk) 03:39, 15 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Uh, the image shows 2 bars of music, not 4. I changed it so not it is correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.92.130.84 (talk) 20:12, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

errors in the notation (?)

errors in the notation.

measure 3, on 6th ride hit -> only one note is played on bassdrum, here notated with 2 16th notes.

same thing in measure 4, 6 ride hit -> should be only one bassdrum hit, not 2. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Golafs (talk • contribs) 02:50, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Can someone with a notation editor please fix? It's one of the most important hits, responsible for genres' worth of influence in modern dance, due to the syncopation it invokes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.73.247.227 (talk) 08:09, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The ASCII notation appears to have been corrected. I have left a message requesting the musical notation be fixed. Should we remove it until it is fixed? --Kvng (talk) 14:09, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Done I've redone it myself. There was a few errors to fix but it should be okay now. EDIT: If you still can't see it then try doing a full refresh. --Bo98 (talk) 20:35, 10 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No BPM?

Given how detailed this article is, especially the drum tabs, why is it not mentioned anywhere what BPM the original sample is? It's 137, but I'll leave whoever is in charge of this article to decide where to insert this vital information.

Done. I've also requested the notation be updated to include this. --Kvng (talk) 13:57, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Done Notation updated. EDIT: If you still can't see it then try doing a full refresh.--Bo98 (talk) 20:36, 10 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Article in the Economist

This week's economist has an article about the Amen Break. See here for the article. It looks as though some of the unsourced statements which are on the WP page can find support here. Ben (Major Bloodnok) (talk) 08:37, 17 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Article needs additional citations?

The tag at the top of the article says it's been up there since 2007. Even though I don't listen to this kind of music, I learned about the Amen Break from an article in The Economist. So I came here, only to discovered a well-researched, well-documented article. If there are still issues, I think they should be addressed at the lowest reasonable level. Zyxwv99 (talk) 22:27, 10 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

BBC source

I've just added a quote sourced to this BBC article. It's a fairly in-depth treatment of the Amen break, so may well be of use in addressing sourcing issues throughout the article. Modest Genius ^talk 18:03, 29 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Modest Genius: it was mentioned on PRI's The World if it's a useful reference for you at all. Link: [2]. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 04:08, 1 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

MIDI File?

Other similar beats, for instance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-beat#Drum_beat - have Free MIDI files as examples. It'd be awesome if this page had one as well! Paging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hyacinth !! :) Miserlou (talk) 20:13, 15 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]