Four to the floor

Four to the floor or four-on-the-floor is a type of dance music and a musical rhythm pattern characterized by a steady, uniformly accented beat in 4/4 time, popularized in 1960s and disco music of 1970s. [Peter Shapiro (2000) "Modulations: A History of Electronic Music: Throbbing Words on Sound", London: "Distributed Art Publishers," ISBN 189102406X , p. 40]

This steady beat is usually maintained by the kick drum (bass drum)."The Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys and Techniques", Rick Snoman (2004) ISBN 0240519159] 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. ["The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Drums", Michael Miller (2004) ISBN 159257162X]

Other examples of this music type are afrobeat, house, 4x4 Garage, techno and trance.

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 "swing" pattern.

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