Ghost notes are very quiet unaccented hits that add groove without changing the overt pattern

Ghost notes are extremely low-velocity drum hits (typically velocity ~15–35, versus accents near 100), usually on the snare, placed between the main accents of a pattern. Individually they are nearly inaudible; collectively they fill the space between backbeats and create forward motion, syncopation, and dynamic life without adding new accents. The defining feature is velocity contrast — ghost notes must stay quiet enough to be felt as texture rather than heard as accents; raising their velocity too high turns them into competing accents and destroys the effect. They can also serve as quick anticipatory gestures into downbeats, or as ‘presses’ (a short fast roll where the first hit is slightly louder). Ghost notes work best with velocity-sensitive multisampled drums, where low velocity triggers a genuinely quiet sample rather than an attenuated loud one. Adding them to a quantized pattern immediately makes it feel less mechanical.

Examples

Rock beat: kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, hats on every eighth. Add low-velocity snare hits on the ‘e’/‘ah’ sixteenths of beats 1 and 3 — the groove gains propulsion with no new accents. On a step sequencer: accents on steps 5 and 13 at velocity 110; ghosts at steps 3, 7, 9, 11, 15 at velocity 25.

Assessment

Take a basic kick/snare pattern and add at least two ghost notes at appropriate positions and velocities. Explain why they are lower velocity and which subdivisions they target. Predict what perceptual problem arises if ghost-note velocity is raised above ~50.