Drum beat in the style of “Every Breath You Take” — The Police

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Stewart Copeland plays with rare restraint on The Police’s 1983 hit: steady 8ths and a cross-stick instead of a full snare. The groove works because nothing is added to it.

Tempo
117 BPM
Time signature
4/4
Groove
straight pop beat
Genre
Pop
Difficulty
Easy
Loop
1 bar

Drum pattern

Main groove
Hi-hat
Cross-stick
Kick

Each row is one drum, each column one step. Large dots are accents, small dots normal hits, faint dots ghost notes.

Who plays what: notes per bar

Cymbal hand8
Snare hand2
Kick foot2

Every kick lines up with a cymbal stroke, which makes this one of the easiest coordination patterns to start with.

About this groove

At about 117 BPM it has a medium tempo: one beat lasts 513 ms and a 4/4 bar takes 2.1 seconds. Use the tempo buttons to slow it down while you learn.

Practice plan

BPM

Learn At 117 BPM, “Every Breath You Take” is faster than 46% of the 150 songs in our catalogue. See all song tempos →

96 193 BPM Every Breath You Take · 117
Tempo among our pop songs

Step-by-step breakdown of the straight pop beat →

How it differs from similar beats

Compared with “Rolling in the Deep” (Adele, rock beat with 8th notes), this groove leaves out the kick on 3& — and it runs 12 BPM faster. If you can already play that one, this is your next step. Rolling in the Deep →

Other songs with the same straight pop beat

Similar drum beats

This is a simplified rhythm pattern in the style of “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, written for drum practice. It is not a transcription of the recording and contains no audio, lyrics or artwork. Drums3D is not affiliated with The Police.