What BPM is funk?
Funk is 95-115 BPM, and 104 is a fair single number. The machine above is playing funk at 104 BPM - press Space to hear it, then move the tempo and listen for where it stops sounding like funk.
Why funk lives at 95-115 BPM
Funk is 95-115 BPM, and the number is really a description of what a drummer can do with 16th notes. Below 95 the ghost notes between the backbeats start to sound like separate hits; above 115 a drummer cannot keep a stream of 16th-note ghosts light enough, and the style thins out into disco. The James Brown records that defined it sit in the middle - Funky Drummer at about 100, Cold Sweat around 115 - and most of the breaks hip hop later sampled are between 98 and 110.
The feel is not swing in the drum-machine sense; a funk drummer plays nearly straight 16ths and the push comes from the ghost notes being early or late by a few milliseconds. On a machine that translates to 10-16 swing - enough to lean, not enough to shuffle. The groove above is a sampled-break-style pattern at 104. Slow it to 91 and pitch it down in your head: that is boom bap, and that is where boom bap came from.
104 BPM in milliseconds
For setting delay times, checking a sample's length, or programming by ear: at 104 BPM one bar of 4/4 is 2,308 ms and a 16th note is 144 ms.
| At 104 BPM | Length | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| One bar (4/4) | 2,308 ms | 0.43 Hz |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 577 ms | 1.73 Hz |
| Dotted 8th | 433 ms | 2.31 Hz |
| 8th note | 288 ms | 3.47 Hz |
| 8th-note triplet | 192 ms | 5.20 Hz |
| 16th note | 144 ms | 6.93 Hz |
| 32nd note | 72 ms | 13.87 Hz |
The genres either side
Tempo windows overlap, and what separates neighbours is usually swing and where the snare falls rather than the number itself. Funk with its nearest neighbours by tempo:
| Genre | BPM | Typical | Felt pulse | Swing | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boom Bap | 88-94 | 91 | as written | 16-24 | Hip hop |
| Reggaeton | 88-100 | 96 | as written | 0 | Latin |
| Funk | 95-115 | 104 | as written | 10-16 | Funk and soul |
| Afrobeats | 100-115 | 110 | as written | 8-14 | African |
| Amapiano | 110-115 | 112 | as written | 6-12 | Dance |
Frequently asked
What BPM is the Funky Drummer break?
About 100 BPM. It is the most-sampled drum break in hip hop precisely because 100, pitched down a little, lands at boom bap tempo.
Is funk faster than hip hop?
By about ten beats: funk 95-115, boom bap 88-94. Hip hop is funk breaks slowed down, so the gap is the pitch-shift on the sampler.
Can I make funk at a different tempo?
Yes, and the edges of the window are where the interesting records live. The point of the range is that inside it a listener hears funk before they hear anything else; outside it, the same drum pattern reads as a neighbouring style. Drag the tempo on this page to hear the crossover happen.
Go deeper
Every genre's tempo
- What BPM is lo-fi hip hop?70-85 BPM
- What BPM is hip hop?80-100 BPM
- What BPM is boom bap?88-94 BPM
- What BPM is reggaeton?88-100 BPM
- What BPM is afrobeats?100-115 BPM
- What BPM is amapiano?110-115 BPM
- What BPM is disco?110-125 BPM
- What BPM is afro house?118-126 BPM
- What BPM is house?120-128 BPM
- What BPM is UK garage?130-135 BPM
- What BPM is techno?128-140 BPM
- What BPM is the Amen break?136-137 BPM
- What BPM is trap?130-150 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is drill?138-145 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is phonk?130-160 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is dubstep?138-142 BPM · half-time
- What BPM is jungle?160-175 BPM
- What BPM is drum and bass?170-176 BPM
- What BPM is neurofunk?172-176 BPM
BAP Studio is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.
Made by Max Berggren.