Latin drum beat at 130 BPM
Press Play for a Latin drum beat at 130 BPM. It starts with Bossa Nova, and you can switch to Son Clave 3-2 and Bembe bell (4/4 triplets). One beat lasts 462 ms.
Playing over a Latin drum beat at 130 BPM
130 BPM is at the fast end for latin. 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 130 BPM
Bossa Nova is written at 120 BPM, the closest of this style's grooves to 130 BPM, so it opens first and plays a little faster than written. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 462 ms, an eighth note 231 ms and a sixteenth 115 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to Son Clave 3-2 and Bembe bell (4/4 triplets) on the page and the tempo stays at 130 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 130 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 | 1.8 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 7.4 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 15 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 98 bars |
How a Latin drum beat works
These grooves are organised around a repeating two-bar pattern, the clave, rather than around a backbeat. Once you can hear which bar is the "three" side and which is the "two" side, your part will fit much more naturally.
How to play along
Guitarists: over bossa nova, play the thumb on the bass notes with the kick and pluck chords on the syncopated cross-stick. Pianists: keep a steady left hand and let the right hand follow the clave. Count the phrase in two-bar units, not single bars.