Rock drum beats to play online

Rock drumming is built on a strong backbeat: snare on 2 and 4, a kick that locks with the bass, and steady 8th notes on the hi-hat. Master the basic rock beat here and you can play along with a huge part of popular music.

The style in numbers (from our 36 grooves)

Tempo range

64–176 BPM

Typical tempo

120 BPM

Most common groove

rock beat with 8th notes (11/36)

Grooves with ghost notes

6%

Shuffle or triplet feel

11%

Time signatures

4/4, 7/4, 6/8, 3/4

Learn The median rock tempo here is 120 BPM, against 118 BPM across all 150 songs. Compare tempos by genre →

Rock songs

• ▶ Smoke on the Water Deep Purple · 112 BPM
• ▶ Don't Stop Believin' Journey · 119 BPM
• ▶ Wonderwall Oasis · 87 BPM
• ▶ Everlong Foo Fighters · 158 BPM
• ▶ Song 2 Blur · 130 BPM
• ▶ Rock and Roll Led Zeppelin · 170 BPM
• ▶ L'Aventurier Indochine · 146 BPM
• ▶ Beggin' Måneskin · 134 BPM
• ▶ Back in Black AC/DC · 94 BPM
• ▶ Highway to Hell AC/DC · 116 BPM
• ▶ We Will Rock You Queen · 81 BPM
• ▶ Don't Stop Me Now Queen · 156 BPM
• ▶ Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana · 117 BPM
• ▶ Come As You Are Nirvana · 120 BPM
• ▶ Seven Nation Army The White Stripes · 124 BPM
• ▶ Sweet Child O' Mine Guns N' Roses · 125 BPM
• ▶ Livin' on a Prayer Bon Jovi · 123 BPM
• ▶ Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 Pink Floyd · 104 BPM
• ▶ Money Pink Floyd · 120 BPM
• ▶ Hotel California Eagles · 74 BPM
• ▶ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones · 136 BPM
• ▶ Walk This Way Aerosmith · 109 BPM
• ▶ Whole Lotta Love Led Zeppelin · 90 BPM
• ▶ Mr. Brightside The Killers · 148 BPM
• ▶ Zombie The Cranberries · 84 BPM
• ▶ Eye of the Tiger Survivor · 109 BPM
• ▶ Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry · 168 BPM
• ▶ Solsbury Hill Peter Gabriel · 102 BPM
• ▶ We Are the Champions Queen · 64 BPM
• ▶ Piano Man Billy Joel · 176 BPM
• ▶ Rock You Like a Hurricane Scorpions · 124 BPM
• ▶ Wind of Change Scorpions · 76 BPM
• ▶ Tage wie diese Die Toten Hosen · 140 BPM
• ▶ De música ligera Soda Stereo · 120 BPM
• ▶ Entre dos tierras Héroes del Silencio · 120 BPM
• ▶ Tempo Perdido Legião Urbana · 126 BPM

Typical rock drum patterns

The grooves most songs in this genre are built on. Learn these and the rest are small variations.