Rock drum beat at 140 BPM
Press Play for a rock drum beat at 140 BPM. It starts with Smells Like Teen Spirit, and you can switch to Basic Rock and Back in Black Pocket. One beat lasts 429 ms.
Playing over a rock drum beat at 140 BPM
140 BPM is at the fast end for rock. 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 140 BPM
Smells Like Teen Spirit is written at 117 BPM, the closest of this style's grooves to 140 BPM, so it opens first and plays a little faster than written. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 429 ms, an eighth note 214 ms and a sixteenth 107 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 140 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 140 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 | 1.7 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 6.9 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 14 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 105 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.