Punk drum beat at 180 BPM

Press Play for a punk drum beat at 180 BPM. It starts with Fast Eighths. One beat lasts 333 ms.

Playing over a punk drum beat at 180 BPM

180 BPM is a comfortable middle tempo for punk and metal. Use it to play whole songs or long improvisations without stopping; the fills every few bars tell you where each phrase ends.

What plays at 180 BPM

Fast Eighths is written at 190 BPM, the closest of this style's grooves to 180 BPM, so it opens first and plays a little slower than written. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 333 ms, an eighth note 167 ms and a sixteenth 83 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear.

How long is a phrase at 180 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.

Phrase lengths at 180 BPM
LengthTime
One bar of 4/41.3 seconds
Four-bar phrase5.3 seconds
Eight-bar section11 seconds
Three-minute songabout 135 bars

How a punk drum beat works

Straight eighths at high speed. The kick and snare alternate or double with the hi-hat, and every note is on the grid. At these tempos any tension in your hands shows up as rushing or dropped notes.

How to play along

Guitarists: this is the tempo range for down-picking and fast alternate picking. Start at the lowest tempo you can play perfectly, then move up in small steps. Bassists: match the picking hand of the guitarist, not just the notes.