The Best Pencil Beat Videos on the Web

Have you ever been sitting at your desk, either processing an idea or just bored, only to find yourself making a quiet drum beat with your pencil? Perhaps you’ve never made the beats yourself, but maybe you remember a kid in one of your classes who sat in the back of the room making 4/4 hip-hop beats, constantly getting called out by the teacher for creating such a distracting racket. Well, it turns out some of those kids got really, really good at making that racket. There are hundreds of pencil beat-making youngsters on YouTube, and all of them proclaim themselves to be “the best,” “the greatest,” and “the most epic.” I’ve taken the time to sift through these videos to find the ones that truly stand out most. Here are my five favorite pencil/pen beat videos.

The Best Pencil Beats on the Web

1. The Instructor

This first kid actually created a WikiHow page to instruct people on how to make beats with pencils. A lot of the information he gives is fairly basic, and even his printable “tabs” don’t really seem all that useful, but when he demonstrates his skills in his actual demonstration video, it becomes clear that he knows what he’s doing.

2. The Masked Beat-Maker

While most students only find trouble with their pencil beats, this young lady is actually praised at her school for her talent. Donning a mask for style points, she demonstrates her skills at an assembly. I wish my high school years had been this cool.

3. Lyrical God

This next young man, who goes by the moniker of Lyrical God on the web, is not only skilled with making pencil beats, he’s also an extremely talented rapper. In this video he combines his two abilities for an awesome lunch break special. Just a heads-up, some of his lyrics are a bit on the NSFW side.

4. Metal Beats

This next video stood out for me because of the tone the beat-maker created by drumming on his small, seemingly metallic table, rather than his overall ability. It creates a hollow-sounding, chilled-out tone that’s unique when compared to the usual work desk.

5. Malek

The last video is a special one and it comes from renowned producer Malek. Unlike the other videos featured here, Malek uses a digital audio workshop setup with a mic and MIDI keyboard to layer sounds he makes with his pencils. It’s especially cool when he records a popping sound by tapping his cheek with his pencil, and then assigns the sound to his MIDI keyboard to play in low and high pitches.