Beat Lab · Guide
How to Play Beat Lab
Beat Lab is a free drum ear training game. Listen to a real drum pattern, recreate it on the grid, and score your accuracy. Here's everything you need to know.
Open Beat Lab →The Core Loop
Pick a beat from the sidebar
The left sidebar lists all 22 drum patterns, grouped by genre. Each pattern shows its BPM and difficulty badge (Easy, Medium, or Hard). Start with Easy patterns to build your ear before moving to harder ones.
Listen to the reference beat
Click ▶ Listen to Beat to hear the reference drum pattern. Listen carefully for where each drum instrument hits. You can listen as many times as you need — use the tempo slider to slow it down.
Recreate the pattern on the grid
Click cells in the drum grid to place your hits. Gold cells are active. Each row is a different drum instrument (Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, etc). Each column is one step in time — 16 steps per bar.
Check your accuracy
Click ✓ Check Accuracy to see how closely your pattern matches the reference. You'll receive a percentage score and a star rating (up to 3 stars for 90%+).
Understanding the Grid
Gold cells = active hits. The highlighted column shows the playhead (current step during playback). Bold borders mark each quarter-note beat.
Each row = one drum instrument
Kick (deep bass thud), Snare (sharp crack), Hi-Hat (steady ticking), Crash cymbal, and more depending on the pattern. Each instrument label has a ? tooltip explaining what it sounds like.
Each column = one step in time
16 steps per bar in 4/4 time. The bold dividers mark each beat (1, 2, 3, 4). The numbers and symbols above the grid (1, +, ·) label the beat subdivisions — click any to seek playback to that position.
The gold column moves with the beat
When playback is running, a gold highlight sweeps the grid column by column, showing which step is sounding at any moment. Click a step number above the grid to seek playback to that position.
Controls Explained
▶ Listen to Beat
Plays the reference drum pattern at the current tempo. Replay as many times as needed. The playhead sweeps the grid as it plays. Click again to stop.
▷ Play Mine
Plays back your current grid pattern. Use this to compare your version against the reference before checking accuracy. Click again to stop.
✓ Check Accuracy
Compares your grid against the reference pattern and gives a percentage score plus star rating. Score is based on how many reference notes you placed correctly.
◉ Reveal Solution
Shows the correct pattern on the grid. Use when stuck or to study the exact pattern after attempting it. Try at least once before revealing — the attempt is where the learning happens.
Loop
When Loop is ON (icon turns gold), the beat repeats continuously. Useful for studying a pattern over multiple repetitions without clicking Play each time. Click again to turn off.
Clear
Clears all the cells you've placed, giving you a blank slate to try again. The reference pattern is unchanged — only your attempt is erased.
The Tempo Slider
Slow it down to hear every hit
Drag the slider left to reduce the tempo (down to 50%). At a slower speed, each drum hit is easier to isolate and place on the grid. Once you've decoded the pattern, drag back to full speed to confirm.
Tips for Better Ear Training
Start with the kick and snare
Every pattern has a rhythmic foundation — usually kick on beats 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. Place these first, then add the hi-hat. Leave fills and embellishments for last.
Count out loud while listening
Say "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and" while the beat plays. This maps the 8th-note positions to real numbers. When a hit lands on the "and" of 2, you know exactly which column it belongs to.
Watch the playhead, not just your ears
The gold column sweeping the grid during playback is your visual map of the beat. If you hear a kick but can't tell which column it's on, watch which column lights up when you hear it.
Follow the difficulty progression
Easy patterns (85–100 BPM, simple grooves) build the foundational vocabulary that all complex beats are built from. Don't skip ahead — the basics make hard patterns much more approachable.
Ready to start training your ear?
Play Beat Lab — it's free →© 2025 Script and Pad. All Rights Reserved.