By the time you reach this lesson, 8th-note hi-hat is automatic. The next density level is 16th-notes on the hi-hat — four hits per beat, sixteen per bar. This is the texture of half of pop session drumming, most modern R&B with a rock backbone, and the entire Toto / Steely Dan school of session work that made Jeff Porcaro a household name in drum circles.
You can play 16th hats two ways. Two-handed (alternating R-L-R-L on the hat) gives you the cleanest sound and the most stamina but means the snare on 2 and 4 has to be played by whichever stick happens to be free at that moment — usually a left-hand snare hit while the right hand stays on the hat (the cymbal-line gap is filled by silence on that 16th). One-handed (right hand plays all 16ths, left plays the snare) is more demanding on the right wrist but leaves your left hand entirely free for snare and tom voices. Most players use both, choosing based on tempo and texture.
This lesson does both. Start two-handed at slower tempos to internalize the 16th-note feel, then attempt the one-handed version (the harder physical challenge but the more flexible musical tool). The goal isn't speed — it's steady, even 16ths under a normal rock backbeat. Rock at ♩=88–95 with 16th hats already feels twice as busy as the same tempo with 8ths.
Exercises
Two-handed 16ths on the hat — sticking R L R L. On beat 2 the left stick has to leave the hat momentarily to hit the snare; the cymbal still gets struck (by the right) on the same 16th. Same on beat 4. This is the classic two-handed 16th feel — busy on the cymbals, normal on the bottom. Start at ♩=80 if 88 is too fast; your right hand has to play the back-beat 16ths cleanly and that tires the wrist.
All 16 hi-hat strokes, alternating R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L. Kick on 1 and 3 anchors the bar. This is the sticking conditioning exercise — every right-hand stroke is on a downbeat (1, &, 2, &, …); every left-hand stroke is on the e or a of the beat. The point is to feel which 16ths your dominant hand is responsible for, so when you add the snare back in, the sticking is already automatic.
Right hand plays all 16 hi-hat 16ths; left hand handles only the snare on 2 and 4. This is the harder of the two techniques — the right wrist now has to work nonstop — but it's the standard for slower-tempo session pop because the left hand is free to play ghost notes, tom hits, or anything else without disturbing the cymbal pattern. Tempo is intentionally slowed to ♩=80; pushing it faster too soon causes wrist cramp. This is the gateway to funk-sixteenth-feel.
16th-note hat (two-handed), snare on 2 and 4, and a kick figure that uses 16th-note positions instead of just 8th-note positions: 1, e of 2, & of 3, & of 4. The kick on the e of 2 is the surprise — it's a 16th before the beat, sitting in the gap right before the snare. This is the kind of placement Jeff Porcaro built a career on. Loop slowly until the kick lands exactly on the right 16th — pulling it toward the nearest 8th (the more natural target) collapses the feel.