Drum Patterns Explained: Every Eurodance Song Ever

► / captainpikant Support us on Patreon and get access to lots of drum patterns, cheat sheets and more!
Eurodance... love it or hate it, but there are a few great beginner lessons in there. We listened to / suffered through dozens of Eurodance songs to bring you the common beat denominators that make up the genre. We had a blast making the episode (especially the chiptune renditions of the songs) and we hope you enjoy the trip back to the 90s 👾
We used a Roland TR-6S for the beat, all drum pattern transcriptions are available on Patreon.
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Produced by Jean-Claude Dirckx and Sophie Hoppstädter

[@CaptainPikant]

Some of you asked for a tracklist, so here it is: 2 Unlimited - No Limit (Intro) Scooter - How Much Is The Fish? (Part 1) Vengaboys - Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee) Corona - Rhythm Of The Night La Bouche - Be My Lover Haddaway - What Is Love? Culture Beat - Mr. Vain 2 Unlimited - No Limit Snap - Rhythm Is A Dancer Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam Scatman John - Scatman Scooter - How Much Is The Fish? (Part 2) Mo-Do - Eins Zwei Polizei Aqua - Barbie Girl DJ Bobo - Somebody Dance With Me

[@DylanPank71]

S'funny, at the time I absolutely, aggressively despised this genre, but got odd waves of nostalgia listening to these recreations. Well, maybe apart from "Barbie Girl"

[@Shin3y]

It’s all fun and games until you make an analysis on Gabber…

[@CADJewellerySkills]

...and now I have a new playlist. ;-)

[@kasquez]

I'm pretty sure the one between "What is Love?" and "No Limit" is not "Mr. Vain" but Masterboy's "I Got to Give It Up"

[@fernandobarragao3386]

Ah, salad days!

[@KarlClarkeMusic]

"Makes you want to grab the megaphone and ask the audience about seafood prices" - on the list of sentences said for the first time.

[@benjaminsmits2499]

Brilliant Scooter reference

[@MrVein5.0]

@@benjaminsmits2499 also great history about that song

[@gorandev]

yee-haw!

[@Kj16V]

@@MrVein5.0 I guessed it must be a reference to something, but I don't know what!

[@MrVein5.0]

@@Kj16V funny thing about "how much is the fish, by Scooter" is that it originates from a song called son ar christr, im not a historican but its old as f, it have been covered so many times it might be world record, starting from acoustic folk / celtic to what scooter made in the 90s, then other people started making covers of scooters up to a point where we started seeing acoustic / classic style covers of it, In a way circling it back to the very beginning. i just find it kinda cool

[@jackd6881]

The random horn shot at the end of every demo had me dying

[@AutPen38]

Klaxon!

[@justmoritz]

I love that I knew every single one of these songs 😊

[@richsackett3423]

I also love that someone does.

[@pichass9337]

I knew a lot of them but only recognized some of them

[@AutPen38]

'Pump Up The Jam" kind of changed my life in 1989, but until this video pointed it out I'd never noticed it had 3 open hi-hats per beat. Those crazy Belgians did something special there.

[@HouseholdDog]

They just Pumped Up the Jam. People don't read the labels these days.

[@cyclotronbxl]

From mid 80’s till the end of the 90’s, Belgium was the place to be for Electronic Music.

[@FluxTrax]

I think it was a delay though. "Pump up the jam" is fairly inspired by "The Acid Life" by no other than Farley Jackmaster Funk (from the "No vocals necessary EP") and has pretty much the same bassline (303 and not an FM synth) and similar rhythm (808 though)

[@amal-sebastiandas6097]

That was so wonderfully made, but at 07:00 it really got me killed XD "...something very good is coming - possibly a rap part"

[@AutPen38]

The raps were so cringe-worthy and cheesy that UK mixes of them often removed the rap. 2 Unlimited's first UK hit "Get Ready For This" was issued as basically an instrumental. I'm sure the rapper (Ray?) was a nice guy, but "No Limit" was a really great club track that was "ruined" by the silly rap. The only part of the rap on the UK version (which was a huge number one pop hit) is the word "techno".

[@anttihuovilainen1653]

@@AutPen38 It isn't real eurodance if it doesn't have a shitty rap part.

[@LFC303606ACID]

Great stuff, your comedic timing is almost as good as your drum sequencing.

[@malicious81]

Agreed. I love the subtle humor 👍

[@defjeff2907]

I never realized this is the drum machine lesson I always wanted!!! And where did you find my Sunday morning cleaning playlist? You're the best Captain!

[@CaptainPikant]

😂 Hey Jeff, so glad you enjoyed it!

[@brunocpimenta]

This channel is state of the art editing, good mood/vibes, knowlege and beuty

[@up-down-left-right]

Ouch, Eurodance! Captain don't hurt us, Captain don't hurt us, no more

[@mirojaroszak6239]

Which Captain? Captain Pikant, Jack or Hollywood? 😉

[@dontletmewatchthis]

Amazing video! Would love to see your take on Italo disco and eurobeat patterns 😁

[@CaptainPikant]

Thanks! Do you have any particular recommendations regarding patterns?

[@dontletmewatchthis]

@@CaptainPikant oh wow 🤩 thanks for your reply! so many good ones to list! here are some popular ones that come to mind- King Kong - Boom Boom Dollars Radiorama - Bad Boy You Chip Chip - Radio Michael Fortunati - Give Me Up Sabrina - Boys Gipsy & Queen - Call Me Sheela - Gimme All Your Love King & Queen - Turbo Lover Niko - Night of Fire Norma Sheffield - Touch Me Touch Me Dave Rodgers - Deja Vu Nathalie - Heartbeat Cherry - Yesterday Lolita - Try Me Ace - Play the Music Fastway - Spacelove

[@KevinBlank]

I feel like I'm prepared for Eurovision now more than ever

[@prvzilya336]

Love eurodance and (omg) I’m a part of currently acting eurodance band. hah, so fun to watch you doing patterns that I doing for some years already in every track :D accidentally stumbled at your channel while looking reviews of RD-9 and wow, how amazing your videos are!!! That’s sad you have not so much subscribers at this time, cuz I think it’s really better than 90% of “musical KZbin” and believe that you will have really a lot in a while! Thanks so much, subscribed!

[@liamstone]

great video! would love to see drum & bass, jungle, dubstep beats too

[@ecrylian]

Jungle especially, I'd love to see ways to integrate drum machines into my tracks, it's something I often struggle with

[@nilsvanlier7382]

Oh yeah D'n'B pleeeease!

[@digamejh]

He kind of did, via the "Amen Break" kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zn2bppqjq5iEpNU

[@FingeredBenh]

Why did I watched this twice even though I knew already about all this ? These videos are soo good.

[@Flydodo1]

Eure Videos sind grandios, sowohl inhaltlich als auch vom Produktions-Level, vorallem die Stop-Motion-Sachen..wenn man das mal selbst gemacht hat, weiß man diesen Aufwand erst recht zu schätzen!

[@CADJewellerySkills]

OMG. You've literally recreated my entire adolescence on a Roland drum machine!

[@TheActualJae]

I saw the four gameboys and knew this was probably the new best video on the internet. I was not disappointed :D

[@CaptainPikant]

Thank you so much 😄

[@EberFilipeSunlight91]

Please captain explain to us also harmony and melody! 🙏 Your videos are beautiful and nostalgic, I love them all! 😍

[@Yosser70]

This is brilliant! lol Kinda reminds me of that 3 chords for every pop song ever video.

[@carloslx]

You excelled with this one. I had a smile on the whole time!

[@romanpistelak58]

Mr.Vain. what a song. 🖤

[@hymen0callis]

Love this! Even though I find this comedic gold, I gotta admit I have a few Eurodance guilty pleasures (especially Mr. Vain and Rhythm is a Dancer)

[@Jacob-2796]

Why guilty? You are absolved of guilt

[@neniv]

I have a Roland TR-06 and this was still pretty helpful for me! Personally, I'm trying to figure out how to program patterns for Drum and Bass, Techno, Trance, and Trip Hop, but I grew up listening to a lot of the tracks featured in this video so I found it quite informative!

[@CaptainPikant]

Happy to hear that :) Let us know a few of your favourites from those other genres, we're always looking for new patterns.

[@neniv]

@@CaptainPikant The first pattern I learned how to make was actually the percussion from Teardrop by Massive Attack! I have also successfully recreated a Bjork track, although I can't recall where I saved it. 😅

[@Victorcolongarcia]

@@nenivTASTE! Any published songs? 🔥

[@neniv]

@@Victorcolongarcia Unfortunately no, I don't really have the mind for recording, more for making and playing in the moment.

[@stevenbakos]

Love the “No Limit” lead line at the beginning 👍🏻👍🏻

[@redheadsg1]

No doubt that Eurodance was the best thing that happened to "new" disco scene. After that was mostly on a downhill.

[@BboySalamon]

Thanks a lot author, very positive, beautiful video. I adore 1990's Eurodance🎹🎶

[@DanielHuman1996]

Awesome, now I can program "Pump Up the Jams!"

[@rayannagraves8284]

Great video! Thanks for the help🤩

[@jwferlise]

So useful, id love to see some breakbeat stuff like the prodigy or chemical brothers

[@CaptainPikant]

That's definitely on the roadmap :)

[@zoned7609]

breakbeat!!! oh man you would be the perfect person to teach that

[@healinghertz-soothingsolfe5199]

amazing

[@BassFunMusic]

Your tracks always hit the right note. Keep them coming! 🎼👌❤

[@gapster77]

This is a really good vid. Keep up the good work, Captain!

[@TheHorseValse]

So true! Super content, as always! Funny and informative. The BPM is often 136 or 138. TR-909, snare roll, crash, all of it...Maybe Ms-20 laser kick drum every now and then. On the synth side, it is always subtractive. Mainly saw or dual detuned saw oscillators with low pass filter. (sometimes a PWM square or supersaw) For bass do the same. Sometimes saw and a square wave an octave lower. For authenticity (which I don't do) keep it dirty, don't do a lot of low cut EQ, use broad eq curves, use send fx for reverb and delay and chorus for all tracks, add harmonic distortion. (emulating a cheap mixer and the workflow) For samples don't go round-robin or multi, just take 1 sample and spread it across the keyboard. (Emulating old samplers, I shall try this too..maybe go 12 bit?) Touch of Organ bass (can do with stacked sines), Pizzicato strings, and a hint of TB-303... By the way, how much is the fish? :D

[@RobbekenSynthMusic]

Awesome lessons! Thank you very much!

[@cmyk8964]

I may not have been alive through much of its hayday, but I still feel fondness for Eurodance because of DDR.

[@Shohaiko]

This has officially made it into my “Happy Place” Playlist

[@thegrinderman1090]

Your videos are incredibly well executed. Nice work.

[@alapikomamalolonui6424]

I did NOT know I needed to know this,... now I'm addicted to Pikant..!!! 😊🤙🏄☘

[@lukeglover6989]

BRILLIANT

[@eduard_schneider]

Seafood prices :))))). I hope Scooter are not watching ;-p. Brilliant as always, great job!!!

[@M364A]

thank you Captian Pikant for putting "Somebody Dance with Me" at the end

[@M364A]

looking back, i was right about not liking somebody dance with me

[@vytispuronas]

Really love the concept and realisation of this video. Eurodance forever :) Cheers.

[@Powhart]

And here am I, a true 90's baby who is singing every single song after just two beats of the presentations

[@slaguru]

Brillant - well done

[@bosnianlain]

I really hope you well and your channel to grow, that's some great content. I've been having some fun with my beatstep pro (plus vcv rack) and some ideas from your vids, thanks for everything.

[@BertramMoranda]

Ah, another great video from captain *airhorn* Pickant.

[@davecasey6654]

Wittily executed!

[@Wetfoxes]

My mind is literally blown right now

[@synthemafia3138]

I really like youre videos man! Keep it, I think this chanel will go up and up!

[@timoth2536]

This is just what I needed !

[@wuokawuoka]

Dear Captain, I have no clue when it comes to drumming and music. So, sorry for the education going straight above my head. But I do love your videos for the pure entertainment value. And this one... just takes the cake. It is a hilarious piece of entertainment.

[@tomislavgrzunov6560]

I've really started to think about getting a drum machine after seeing your videos. I do most of my drum programming in daw but it's tempting to get something more tactile. Tr6s seems like good piece of gear.

[@Highrollinhunter]

I consider Ray Of Light by Madonna a eurodance song I have some guilty pleasure eurodance songs because they are bangers even though I'm a Latin Freestyle/ Electro Funk fan

[@twoscoops2]

Just what I was looking for! 🤣 Thank you so much for the video, subscribed.

[@usemoreproduct]

so much joy in your vids. wonderful!

[@cyrrustvirus]

Man, I‘m feeling 20 again when I hear this. Awsome 😄👍

[@Pablo_Anunnaki]

Quality work. Greetings from Bolivia.

[@watchmeasifly]

Do a video on programming Caribbean and jazz rhythms!

[@nachois]

Thank you! Very clear and simple to understand!

[@coreydevl7021]

MASSIVE!!

[@Wolterhon]

What a nice video!

[@RahhmiPoofs]

just had fun guessing the songs as you went. awesome!

[@kingslavd661]

This is awesome! Thanks.

[@niallmorrison3097]

Tremendous, thank you.

[@mykelegin]

You activated my fight or flight instinct when you played boomx4

[@haslo_]

Great laughs, loved the video! Thanks!

[@shagrat47]

I love how the first thing you showed after creating the foundation, was that "Eurodance" is basically just speed up Disco music on a TR-909. 😂 The need for putting labels on everything in music is really funny... Whenever there's evolution it's called "cross-over" until someone can make up a new label. Jazz, Motown, Latin, Philly, Soul, Disco, R&B, Garage, House, Chicago House, Rap, Hip Hop, Rap House, Hip House, Latin House, Detroit Techno, Acid, Techno, EBM, Eurobeat, Dance House, Eurodance, Club House, Hardcord Techno, Gabber, 2Step, etc. ...and everything influences everything.😇

[@goofballskouf5494]

Ahh, the good ol' boots and cats beat. Keep up the good work!

[@Gainn]

(no boots, nor cats were harmed in the making of)

[@andrewford80]

This is fabulous.

[@haiducable]

Exceptionally well made video! I enjoyed every bit of it :)

[@pawelkowalczyk4583]

Beautifully made video.

[@caktalfraktal]

I love eurodance

[@douggie4665]

Can somebody tell me what happened to crash cymbals? I was so used to the sound of a crash cymbal announcing and starting a drop or new section, but it seems it has disappeared. I mean, it was even in drum n bass (like Squarepusher and Aphrodite using it) and now it has disappeared from everybody's EDM drumkit.

[@teagancombest6049]

You explained why yourself, everyone was using it, so the counter culture people evolved, and then the culture follows counter culture and normalizes it again. Basically it became uncool. But then of course it becomes cool to be uncool again!

[@elphidium]

WOW, I loved this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@piotrkawiak9842]

There's no 'Oooomphtss' without 'tss'. The words of a wise man.

[@carlosreis9647]

Hahahahahahha. Your video style is aweso*FOOOMMMM

[@TheBelse]

awesome idea for content ..could you maybe do an episode dedicated to snare drum rolls and meaningful fills.

[@quimerinha]

Great video, as always! Keep it up!

[@squidjism]

@6:22 "Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop bop SPECTRUM ONE"

[@vertigev]

Your best video so far... ❤️❤️

[@lancearn7332]

I laughed, I learnt, I love it. Excellent presentation on a genre I had not intended on trying. Excuse me while I pull out my drum machine. :),

[@CaptainPikant]

Thanks so much and sorry for turning you to the dark side ;)

[@houseofsteinert]

How much is the fish? That's my favourite episode of your series so far.

[@TraxtasyMedia]

Funnily enough that Eurodance is actually doing a revival in pop music 😂

[@CaptainPikant]

It will never die :)

[@3k3k3]

It's the best dark chapter evar

[@PhilXavierSierraJones]

List of all songs referenced in this video? I like to listen to the original music, some I couldn't identify, some I could identify.

[@CaptainPikant]

I made a tracklist, it's pinned to the top comment :)

[@jonathanlochridge9462]

I don't see much "why" in your video. Although, the "how" information and how you show the parts to rythmns in particular contexts is better than I have seen from any other youtubers. And your presentation style is great too. Overall, you stuff kind of reminds me of 12tones stuff but not as comprehensive and specifically focused on rhythm. But with a higher production value.

[@MadelnMachines]

Funny! I'm thinking of picking up the 8S

[@bandatratata]

Let me hear you say YEEEAAHH!

[@vladv5126]

So, asking for a friend: How much does fish go for nowadays?

[@djdemoniax2539]

Yeah

[@LoffizAnimationer]

So good

[@ruyblanco4164]

You are the capo!

[@MrJonBertsch]

No I’m gonna have to add an air horn sample to my 6s 😅

[@pooshNchums]

This is both an amazing tutorial and making fun of how ridiculous euro beats are. Love it

[@scoreeclectic]

More Rabbits please! Neverless a great educational video btw.

[@reichhopprivatwatch1406]

WHAT IS THE SEAFOOD PRICE

[@oliverhunter4427]

There's Eurodance, and then there's Balkan Eurodance... (darbuka trills increasing)

[@phuturemusic]

Possibly rap part 👌

[@BCThunderthud]

DW used to have a video countdown show that ran in some places in the US. Where I lived it only ran for a few months I think, but it was basically the period between Up and Down and Believe, with Supa Richie and Calcutta and of course Brother Louie. Needless to say I fell head over heels for this trash.