Reggaeton
Reggaeton is a Latin dance style at about 88–100 BPM built on the dembow rhythm: a kick on every beat and a snare that falls just before and just after the beats. It grew in Puerto Rico and Panama in the 1990s from dancehall and hip hop.
The loop
- Bar 1Am
- Bar 2F
- Bar 3C
- Bar 4G
Four bars over Am, F, C, G. Mute a track or solo it to hear what each part does; tap any box to change it.
The recipe
The patterns this loop is made of. Point at one, or tap Show, to light up its lanes on the grid.
- Dembow
Steady kick, “ch-boom-chick” snare.
- Tresillo (3-3-2)
The bass in 3-3-2.
- Four-on-the-floor
The kick under the dembow is on every beat.
- Call-and-response hook
A two-bar hook on a pluck.
Also in the loop: quiet eighth-note hats; a soft pad holding each chord.
How it fits together
The kick is steady; the snare is the hook. Its “ch-boom-chick” is the tresillo’s 3-3-2 shape, and here the bass plays the same 3-3-2 so the whole low end sways.
Over that groove the melody is often a short call and response, easy to sing back.
The loop in words
- Kick: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16.
- Snare and clap: steps 4, 7, 12 and 15 of 16.
- Hats: quiet on 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 of 16.
- Bass: steps 1, 4, 7, 9, 12 and 15 of 16.
- Chords: step 1 of 16, each held for 16 steps.
- Lead: E5 on steps 1 and 17 of 32, each held for 2 steps; D5 on steps 4, 11 and 20 of 32, notes held for 1 and 6 steps; C5 on steps 7 and 23 of 32, each held for 2 steps; A4 on step 27 of 32, each held for 6 steps.
- Chords: Am, F, C, G, one bar each, in A minor.
- Tempo: 95 BPM, no swing.
How to ask an AI music tool for it
Name the patterns instead of the genre alone. These are the words that describe reggaeton precisely; use the ones you can hear in your reference.
| Say | It means |
|---|---|
| dembow rhythm | steady kick with a syncopated snare |
| tresillo, 3-3-2 | the uneven split the snare and bass follow |
| sub bass on the 3-3-2 | a deep bass in the same rhythm |
| call-and-response hook | one phrase asks, the next answers |
| 88–100 BPM | the tempo |
Neighbours
House
120–128 bpmA kick on every beat, everything else in the gaps
Signature: Four-on-the-floorKeep the kick on every beat, speed up to 124 and move everything else to the off-beats.
Trap
130–150 bpmA half-time snare, rolling hats and a sliding 808
Signature: Half-time snareSame chords and the same minor mood; the snare moves to beat 3 and the bass becomes a sliding 808.
Make reggaeton yourself
The course starts with the beat under every genre and builds up from there. Unit 1 is free: sign up with Google and start the first lesson in your browser.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; the parts of reggaeton come one chapter at a time.