Pop drum beat at 120 BPM
Press Play for a pop drum beat at 120 BPM. It starts with Billie Jean Pocket, and you can switch to Motown Pocket and Four-on-the-Floor. One beat lasts 500 ms.
Playing over a pop drum beat at 120 BPM
120 BPM is at the fast end for pop. 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 120 BPM
Billie Jean Pocket is written at 117 BPM, so 120 BPM is its home tempo. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 500 ms, an eighth note 250 ms and a sixteenth 125 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to Motown Pocket and Four-on-the-Floor on the page and the tempo stays at 120 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 120 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 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 8 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 16 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 90 bars |
How a pop drum beat works
Pop drums leave space for the vocal. The pattern repeats with very little variation, so any timing wobble in your own part stands out. That makes a pop groove a good test of whether you can play a simple part in the pocket for three minutes.
How to play along
Keep chords short and rhythmic rather than letting them ring over the whole bar. Match the length of your notes to the hi-hat. Singers can use the kick pattern as the grid for phrasing a verse.