Ladies and Gentlemen please put your hands together and name a song that uses clapping.

Hand claps can make or break a song. A well-placed set of claps can carry a tune into an entirely different stratosphere if timed correctly. They can also sound like a clumsy attempt to overstep the basic beat laid out by the drummer if they don’t hit it just right.   Hand Clap Songs turbo boost already-excellent cuts into levels of sheer awesomeness. (Give them a hand, won’t you? HA HA).

I love having a clap along at a live show.  Those are some of the most amazing moments at a concert when the entire audience is clapping to a strong beat particularly in a stadium show when it just echoes and fills the huge space.  When it comes to putting our nature drums to use in songs, it can be tricky to gracefully use hand claps without falling into cliché. The mere simplicity of the “instrument” is an obstacle in itself, considering the ease in which a standard clap is executed. Essentially, every clap counts.

I was a little torn with this one as I kinda wanted to choose an amazing song by The Cure.  In the song Close to Me the claps arguably carry the beat even more than the proper drums in the track, adding an extra layer  to an already bright moment of pop perfection but I went with the song below because it was such a unique use of clapping.   The Steve Miller Band’s hit song is not like most of the usual rhythm-guided claps .  Instead, the rapid-fire claps of ‘Take the Money and Run’ show up in bursts throughout the verses, punctuating the song rather than helping steer it. Either way, it’s a great use of two hands.