Press Play for a jazz drum beat at 180 BPM. It starts with New Orleans Trad Beat, and you can switch to Jazz Swing, Medium Swing with Comping, Jazz Two-Feel, Kansas City Hi-Hat Swing, Bebop Up-Tempo Ride and Jazz Waltz. One beat lasts 333 ms.
Playing over a jazz drum beat at 180 BPM
180 BPM is at the fast end for jazz swing. 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 180 BPM
New Orleans Trad Beat is written at 176 BPM, so 180 BPM is its home tempo. 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. Switch to Jazz Swing, Medium Swing with Comping, Jazz Two-Feel, Kansas City Hi-Hat Swing, Bebop Up-Tempo Ride and Jazz Waltz on the page and the tempo stays at 180 BPM.
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
Length
Time
One bar of 4/4
1.3 seconds
Four-bar phrase
5.3 seconds
Eight-bar section
11 seconds
32-bar standard (one chorus)
43 seconds
Three-minute song
about 135 bars
How a jazz drum beat works
Swing time comes from the ride cymbal: "ding, ding-a ding, ding-a". The hi-hat closes on beats two and four, and those are the beats to feel. The skipped note of each "ding-a" falls late in the beat, on the last part of a triplet.
How to play along
Bassists: walk a quarter-note line, one note per beat, with the ride. Guitarists: comp short chords around beats two and four, or play four even strums a bar in the Freddie Green style. Horn and piano players: swing your eighth notes to match the ride, and phrase across the barline.