Rock drum beat at 110 BPM
Press Play for a rock drum beat at 110 BPM. It starts with Smells Like Teen Spirit, and you can switch to Basic Rock and Back in Black Pocket. One beat lasts 545 ms.
Playing over a rock drum beat at 110 BPM
110 BPM is a comfortable middle tempo for rock. 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 110 BPM
Smells Like Teen Spirit is written at 117 BPM, the closest of this style's grooves to 110 BPM, so it opens first and plays a little slower than written. 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 Basic Rock and Back in Black Pocket 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 rock drum beat works
A rock beat is built on the backbeat: the snare on beats two and four. Lock your strumming or picking hand to the hi-hat eighths and let your accents land with the snare. When the backbeat feels heavy and even, the band sounds tight even if the parts are simple.
How to play along
Guitarists: play down-strokes on the beat and up-strokes on the "and" so your hand moves with the hi-hat. Bassists: sit on the root with the kick drum and leave space where the kick rests. Singers: breathe on the snare, not in the middle of a bar.