The Dembow groove
The Jamaican dancehall riddim that reggaeton was built on: a tresillo kick and a snare that leans off the backbeat.
What makes it feel this way
The riddim is Jamaican before it is anything else: Steely & Clevie built it in dancehall and Shabba Ranks carried it out of Kingston on Dem Bow in 1990. Reggaeton is the sub-genre that grew out of that record, not the source of the pattern. Dembow is built on a snare that refuses the backbeat: it lands on the "a" of 1, the "and" of 2, the "a" of 3 and the "and" of 4, so every bar leans a sixteenth forward instead of sitting square. Underneath, a machine kick booms on beats 1 and 3 while a struck acoustic bass drum answers on the "a" just after each one, so the tresillo is played by two different instruments rather than one kick retuned twice. The snare, both congas, the ride tick and the crash are modal voices - real heads and real metal - while the clap, hats, shaker and sub stay analogue, which is exactly the split a reggaeton record has between sampled percussion and drum machine. Swing is zero on purpose: all the push comes from where the notes are written, and any shuffle would smear the sixteenth-note offset that defines the riddim. The shaker runs straight sixteenths at ghost level through every section, including the stripped one, so when the weight drops away the groove keeps breathing instead of falling silent; underneath it the cross-stick doubles the soft snares, the cowbell marks the quarters, and the quinto slap on the last sixteenth throws you back into bar one.
What BPM is dembow?
The dembow groove on this page runs at 96 BPM, straight, no swing, over 2 bars. Change the tempo in the transport if you want it faster or slower - the pattern keeps its feel because swing and velocity travel with it.
Wondering about tempo? What BPM is reggaeton? - 88-100 BPM, and why.
It is loaded and playing
This page loads the groove as a full four-part arrangement - a main groove, a variation, a stripped-back section and a fill - chained together, on a kit built only for this rhythm. Press Space to hear it, open EDIT to see every hit on the step grid, and change anything you like. SHARE copies a link that rebuilds your version.
Frequently asked
What is the reggaeton beat called?
Dembow. Kick on 1 and 3, snare on the "a" of 1 and the "and" of 2 - boom, ch-boom-chick - named after Shabba Ranks' 1990 track "Dem Bow", whose Steely & Clevie riddim became the template for all of reggaeton. It is the pattern playing on this page.
What BPM is the dembow beat?
90-100 BPM in reggaeton, 96 here. The Dominican dembow genre that took the same name runs faster, 110-125. What BPM is reggaeton? has the full range and why.
Other grooves
- Boom Bap91 BPM · HIP HOP
- Chipmunk Soul91 BPM · HIP HOP
- East Coast Hip Hop92 BPM · HIP HOP
- Trap Hi-Hat146 BPM · TRAP
- Dubstep140 BPM · BASS
- Four on the Floor124 BPM · HOUSE
- Disco120 BPM · DISCO
- Techno136 BPM · TECHNO
- Two Step134 BPM · GARAGE
- Motorik146 BPM · ROCK
- Jungle174 BPM · breakbeat
- Liquid Drum and Bass174 BPM · drum-and-bass
- Neurofunk Drum and Bass174 BPM · DRUM AND BASS
- Ragga Jungle170 BPM · breakbeat
- Amen Break174 BPM · BREAKS
- Amen Chops165 BPM · BREAKS
- Funk Break102 BPM · BREAKS
- Half-Time Shuffle92 BPM · ROCK
- Bo Diddley Beat136 BPM · ROCK
- Second Line92 BPM · FUNK
- Bossa Nova136 BPM · LATIN
- Afrobeat114 BPM · AFRICAN
- One Drop Reggae74 BPM · REGGAE
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.