Rhythm & Time

BPM (Beats Per Minute)

also called “beats per minute”also called “tempo number”

The short version

How fast the music is going, measured in beats per minute.

A little more

At 60 BPM there are 60 beats every minute — one per second, like a clock. At 120 BPM there are 120 beats a minute, so two every second. Bigger number, faster music.

Hear it

Try it

Same beat, four tempos

Nothing changes except the BPM. Notice how the feel changes anyway.

Why you'd careChanging BPM can completely change how the same rhythm feels. Drop a hip-hop pattern from 90 to 70 and it turns heavy; push it to 140 and it turns into a dance track.

Go deeper

Common homes: 60–80 slow ballads, 85–100 hip-hop, 120–128 house, 140 trap and dubstep, 170+ drum & bass. A 140 BPM trap beat and a 70 BPM beat are the same pulse counted differently — that's called half-time.

Where you'll see this in BDT

Keep the Beat →Fix the Beat →Finish a Beat →

Learn next

TempoHow fast or slow the music is moving.MetronomeA device that clicks at a steady tempo so you can play in time.BeatThe steady thing you'd count or clap along to: 1, 2, 3, 4.

88 words and counting in The Music Guide. Back to the guide