Funk drum beat at 110 BPM
Press Play for a funk drum beat at 110 BPM. It starts with Afrobeat Pulse, and you can switch to Funky Drummer, Cissy Strut Pocket, Superstition Pocket and Funky Syncopation. One beat lasts 545 ms.
Playing over a funk drum beat at 110 BPM
110 BPM is at the fast end for funk. Stay relaxed: if your hands tense up or you start rushing, drop back ten BPM, play the part cleanly for a few minutes, then come back up.
What plays at 110 BPM
Afrobeat Pulse is written at 108 BPM, so 110 BPM is its home tempo. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 545 ms, an eighth note 273 ms and a sixteenth 136 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to Funky Drummer, Cissy Strut Pocket, Superstition Pocket and Funky Syncopation on the page and the tempo stays at 110 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 110 BPM?
Knowing how long a phrase lasts helps you plan a song, a solo or a recording take. The drums play a fill at the end of every four or eight bars, so these are the lengths you will hear.
| Length | Time |
|---|---|
| One bar of 4/4 | 2.2 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 8.7 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 17 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 83 bars |
How a funk drum beat works
Funk lives on the sixteenth notes. The kick lands on off-beats, quiet ghost notes fill the snare line, and the hi-hat keeps a steady sixteenth grid. Everything else in the band plugs into that grid, so the job is to feel all four sixteenths of every beat.
How to play along
Guitarists: keep your strumming hand moving in sixteenths the whole time and only let the strings speak on some of them. Bassists: lock to the kick and leave rests; the space is part of the groove. Start slower than you think and speed up only when the muted strokes are even.