How fast is 117 BPM?
112 to 139 BPM is dance tempo. The 120–128 BPM band that disco established and house made permanent sits right in the middle, and the de facto standard for club music is decided inside this range.
117 BPM means 117 beats pass every minute. One beat lasts 512.8 milliseconds (0.513 seconds); counted in 4/4 a bar takes 2.05 seconds, so about 29.3 bars go by each minute. Over a three-minute song that is roughly 88 bars, or 351 beats.
A resting pulse sits around 60–80 beats per minute, so 117 BPM is roughly 1.7 times faster.
Note lengths at 117 BPM
Here is what each note value actually measures at 117 BPM. It is the table to check before subdivision practice, and the one producers reach for when setting time-based effects.
| Note value | Length | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Whole note (4 beats) | 2051.3 ms | 29.3 |
| Half note (2 beats) | 1025.6 ms | 58.5 |
| Quarter note (1 beat) | 512.8 ms | 117 |
| Dotted eighth note | 384.6 ms | 156 |
| Eighth-note triplet | 170.9 ms | 351 |
| Eighth note | 256.4 ms | 234 |
| Sixteenth note | 128.2 ms | 468 |
How to practise at 117 BPM
If this tempo is still out of reach, climb to it in three steps. Start at 82 BPM (70% of target) where you can watch what your hands are doing, move to 99 BPM (85%) to balance the sound, then go to 117 BPM. Only move up when you have played the passage five times in a row without a mistake. If the tempo is already comfortable, push to 129 BPM for a few passes and drop back — 117 BPM will feel roomy afterwards.
If your sixteenths blur at this tempo, the problem is usually motion size rather than speed. Fingers or wrists travelling further than necessary simply run out of time. Halve the tempo, strip the motion down to the minimum, then bring that economy back up with you.
Music that sits at 117 BPM
120 BPM is the tempo most DAWs open a new project at, and the traditional speed of a march. Being an easy reference is exactly why so many sketches start there.
- Disco and house (120–128 BPM)
- Pop dance and EDM
- Rock and punk rock at their default speed
- Techno (125–135 BPM)
- Marches, conventionally near 120 BPM
Frequently asked questions
How long is one beat at 117 BPM?
One beat lasts 512.8 milliseconds, or 0.513 seconds. A bar of 4/4 takes 2.05 seconds, an eighth note is 256.4 ms and a sixteenth note is 128.2 ms.
What tempo marking is 117 BPM?
The 112–139 BPM range is usually labelled Allegro. Those boundaries were never fixed — different eras and composers used the terms differently — so treat the name as a description of character and the number as the measurement.
What if 117 BPM feels too fast?
Slowing down is not losing ground; it is buying accuracy. Work up from 82 BPM through 99 BPM to 117 BPM. Anything you repeat at a tempo where you make mistakes gets learned along with the mistakes, so the fastest tempo you can play cleanly is the tempo worth practising at.
How do I get a finer grid than 117 BPM?
Turn subdivision on at eighth notes and you hear the same grid as a 234 BPM click. The filled-in beat shows you which slot each note belongs to; once it is secure, switch subdivision off and let 117 BPM carry it again.
Tempos around 117 BPM
The neighbouring tempos you actually use: rungs of the practice ladder, and the half-time and double-time feels.