Four-on-the-floor

"Four to the floor" on the bass drum play within typical rock beat (help·info)

Four-on-the-floor is a musical rhythm pattern used in disco and electronic dance music, characterized by a steady, uniformly accented beat played on the bass drum in 4/4 time. This was popularized in the disco music of the 1970s. ^[1] The original term four-on-the-floor was widely used in the disco era and referred to the fact that the bass drum sat directly on the floor and the drummer stamped on a pedal with his/her foot in order to play it.

This steady beat is usually maintained by the kick drum (bass drum).^[2] When a string instrument makes the rhythm (rhythm guitar, banjo), all four beats of the measure are played by identical downstrokes.

Sometimes the term is used to refer to the 4/4 uniform drumming pattern for any drum.^[3]

Many styles of electronic dance music, particularly those that derived from house and techno use this drum beat as one of the most important features of the rhythmic structure.^[2]

The term may also be used to describe any beat or pattern where the bass drum is hit on every downbeat (1, 2, 3, 4) in common time, as opposed to just on the 1 and 3. This form of four-on-the-floor is often used in jazz drumming. Instead of hitting the bass drum in a pronounced and therefore easily audible fashion, it is usually struck very lightly so that the sound of the drum is felt instead of heard by the listener. Typically, this is combined with a ride cymbal and hi-hat in syncopation.

See also

• Repetitive music

References

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