What Is Double Time?

Jake Steezy

New member
Im having a hard time wrapping my mind around double time, it would be greatly appreciated if someone could take time out of their day to try and explain this to me. I might have a general idea but i still dont completely understand. For example, if im in double time and have and 8 bar loop, would it only be equal to a 4 bar loop?
 
X . . . X . . .X . . .X . . .
. . . . 0 . . . . . . .0 . . .

the X represent your kick while the 0 represent your snare in a 80bpm tempo...

to get the same Groove as the above in a much faster tempo.. you double the tempo which is 80*2=160 and arrange like below to get the same groove like its in 80..

X . . . . . . . . . . .X . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . .

double tempo allows you to add more swings to the beat with your hihats and other things easily.. I hope this helps
 
Last edited:
Hi Jake,

"Regular Time" is where the back beats are on beats 2 and 4. Usually represented by the snare or clap. And the main kicks are on beats 1 and 3. (Most music)

"Double Time" is is where the back beats (snares) are on the up beats (the "and" or &) of each beat and the kicks are on every beat. (Punk, Ska)

"Half Time" is where the back beat (snare) is only on beat 3 and the kick is on beat 1. (Trap, DubStep, Future Bass)

Hoped this helped. Let me know if you have any further questions.
 
Im having a hard time wrapping my mind around double time, it would be greatly appreciated if someone could take time out of their day to try and explain this to me. I might have a general idea but i still dont completely understand. For example, if im in double time and have and 8 bar loop, would it only be equal to a 4 bar loop?
Adding to the other guys: It's still 8 bars at double time, but it would take half the duration of regular time (ie in seconds) to complete. The same duration as 4 bars at regular time.
eg 8 bars at 160bpm = 12 seconds, 8 bars at 80bpm = 24 seconds, 4 bars at 80bpm = 12 seconds
 
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