Press Play for a Latin drum beat at 110 BPM. It starts with Bembe bell (4/4 triplets), and you can switch to Bossa Nova, Son Clave 3-2, Cha-Cha-Cha, Samba Batucada on Kit, Baiao Zabumba Groove, Latin Funk Boogaloo and Cumbia. One beat lasts 545 ms.
Playing over a Latin drum beat at 110 BPM
110 BPM is a comfortable middle tempo for latin. 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
Bembe bell (4/4 triplets) is written at 110 BPM, so 110 BPM is its home tempo. 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 Bossa Nova, Son Clave 3-2, Cha-Cha-Cha, Samba Batucada on Kit, Baiao Zabumba Groove, Latin Funk Boogaloo and Cumbia 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.
Phrase lengths at 110 BPM
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 Latin drum beat works
Most of these grooves are organised around a repeating pattern rather than a backbeat: the clave in the Afro-Cuban grooves, the surdo and zabumba figures in the Brazilian ones, the off-beat in cumbia. Once you can hear which bar of the clave is the "three" side and which is the "two" side, your part will fit much more naturally.
How to play along
Guitarists: over bossa nova, play the thumb on the bass notes with the kick and pluck chords on the syncopated cross-stick. Pianists: keep a steady left hand and let the right hand follow the clave. Count the phrase in two-bar units, not single bars.