What is Four-to-the-floor?

Information about Four-to-the-floor

This article is about the dance music beat. For other uses, see Four on the floor.
For the song by Starsailor, see .
Four to the floor or four on the floor is a rhythmic pattern in dance music in which the kick drum falls on each beat of the measure in 4/4 time. The four to the floor beat was popularized in the 1960s and in the disco music of the 1970s. Other music genres based on the beat include house, techno and trance.

Four to the floor v.s. 4/4 time

There is a common misconception that the time signature 4/4 and "four to the floor" can be used interchangeably. However, one must differentiate between the time signature and the rhythmic programming of a song. The large majority of popular music (including most rock, country and jazz) is written in 4/4 time (also known as "common time"), but much of it does not use the "four to the floor" drum pattern.

Four to the floor is/was also used in later glam rock, such as New York Groove by Hello, later covered by Ace Frehley. It had the thump thump thump thump i.e. the kick on every beat of the 4/4 time. Considering the timing of that song, which was considered dance music at the time, it is part of the "roots" of the later so-called "dance music", much as T. Rex and Gary Glitter were a huge influence on schaffel. All were very popular in Germany in the early-mid 1970s.

Meaning in jazz

In jazz drumming, the term "four to the floor" usually refers to feathering (striking very lightly) the bass drum for all the beats of a 4/4 bar.
Four on the floor may refer to one of the following.
  • Four to the floor, or Four on the floor, a steady, uniform 4/4 beat.
  • Four on the Floor, a 1986 CBC comedy series.

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Rhythm (Greek ῥυθμός = 'flow', or in Modern Greek, 'style') is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.
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Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement.

Genres

Dance music works often bear the name of the corresponding dance, e.g.
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The Drum kit

1 Bass drum | 2 Floor tom | 3 Snare | 4 Toms | 5 Hi-hat | 6 Crash cymbal and Ride cymbal
Other components
China cymbal | Cowbell | Sizzle cymbal |
Splash cymbal | Swish cymbal |
Tambourine | Wood block | Rototom
A bass drum
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This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.
Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since June 2007.
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In musical notation, a bar or measure is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S.
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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

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Their 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive.
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Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs (discothèques) in the mid-1970s. Disco songs usually have soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern
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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

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- The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called
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A music genre is a term that describes the process of dividing popular music into categories. Some treat the terms genre and style as the same, and state that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language.
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House music is a style of electronic dance music that was developed by dance club DJs in Chicago in the early to mid-1980s. House music is strongly influenced by elements of the late 1970s soul- and funk-infused dance music style of disco.
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Techno is a form of electronic dance music that had its early beginnings in Western Europe in the late 1970s[1] and later developed and established as a genre in Detroit, Michigan during the 1980s.
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Trance is a style of electronic music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 165 BPM, featuring repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track.
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The time signature (also known as "meter signature") is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat.
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The time signature (also known as "meter signature") is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat.
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Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It stands in contrast to art music[1]
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Rock music is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or synthesizers.
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Country music, the first half of Billboard's country and western music category, is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, hokum, and old-time music and
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Jazz is an original American musical art form that originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in and around New Orleans.

Overview

Jazz has been called "America's only original art form.
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Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a style of rock and pop music, which initially surfaced in the post-hippie early 1970s. Those who participated in the genre drew on several past youth cultures, musical styles, movie images and art movements to produce a distinct
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Released 1978 (US)
Format 7"
Recorded Plaze Sound Studios,
New York City: 1978
Genre Hard rock
Length 3 min 01 sec
Label Casablanca NB-941 (US)
Producer(s) Eddie Kramer & Ace Frehley
Peak chart positions

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Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language and is synonymous with other greetings such as or . Hello was recorded in dictionaries in 1883.
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Paul Daniel Frehley (born April 27, 1951[1]), better known as Ace Frehley, is an American guitarist best known as a founding member and lead guitarist for the rock band Kiss. He took on the persona of 'Space Ace' when the band adopted costumes and theatrics.
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T. rex, T. Rex or T-Rex may refer to:
  • Tyrannosaurus rex, a large carnivorous dinosaur
  • Tachyoryctes rex, the King Mole Rat
  • Thoristella rex, a species of Thoristella
  • Trialeurodes rex

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Paul Francis Gadd aka Gary Glitter (born May 8 1944) is an English rock and pop singer and songwriter who had a string of chart successes with a collection of 1970s glam rock hits including "Rock and Roll parts 1 & 2", "I Love You Love Me Love", "I'm the Leader of the Gang
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Schaffel (The German phonetic spelling of "shuffle") is a term used to describe a trend in progressive electronic music in which the time signatures are built in variations of 6/8, 12/8, 3/4, or 4/4 triplet feels.
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