Press Play for a Latin drum beat at 90 BPM. It starts with Cumbia, and you can switch to Bossa Nova, Son Clave 3-2, Cha-Cha-Cha, Samba Batucada on Kit, Baiao Zabumba Groove, Bembe bell (4/4 triplets) and Latin Funk Boogaloo. One beat lasts 667 ms.
Playing over a Latin drum beat at 90 BPM
90 BPM is at the slow end for latin. Slow tempos show every timing slip, so it is the best place to learn a new part: play it until it feels boring, then move up.
What plays at 90 BPM
Cumbia 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 Bossa Nova, Son Clave 3-2, Cha-Cha-Cha, Samba Batucada on Kit, Baiao Zabumba Groove, Bembe bell (4/4 triplets) and Latin Funk Boogaloo 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.
Phrase lengths at 90 BPM
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 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.