Rock drum beat at 90 BPM
Press Play for a rock drum beat at 90 BPM. It starts with Back in Black Pocket, and you can switch to Basic Rock and Smells Like Teen Spirit. One beat lasts 667 ms.
Playing over a rock drum beat at 90 BPM
90 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 90 BPM
Back in Black Pocket is written at 94 BPM, so 90 BPM is its home tempo. In 4/4 at this tempo a quarter note lasts 667 ms, an eighth note 333 ms and a sixteenth 167 ms, which is the spacing of the hi-hat you hear. Switch to Basic Rock and Smells Like Teen Spirit on the page and the tempo stays at 90 BPM.
How long is a phrase at 90 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 | 2.7 seconds |
| Four-bar phrase | 11 seconds |
| Eight-bar section | 21 seconds |
| Three-minute song | about 68 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.