What Are Beats and Bars?

On the previous page, you counted "1, 2, 3, 4" along with the music while mixing from track A to track B.

Here, we explain what it was that you were counting.

What is a beat?

When you listen to music, you can feel a rhythm at regular intervals.

In dance music, it's easiest to follow the low "thump, thump, thump, thump" of the kick drum.

Each one of these pulses is called a beat.

First, count along with the sound:

1, 2, 3, 4

Try counting it out.

4 beats make 1 bar

In much of dance music, you can feel

1, 2, 3, 4

as one group of four beats.

This group is called a bar.

In other words,

4 beats = 1 bar

That is the rule.

When one bar ends, the count starts again from the next "1."

Count the bars too

In DJing, you count not only the beats but also "which bar you're on now."

For example, for 4 bars, you can count it like this:

1, 2, 3, 4
2, 2, 3, 4
3, 2, 3, 4
4, 2, 3, 4

This is one way to count.

The first number shows which bar you are in, and the numbers after it show which beat of that bar you are on.

For example,

3, 2, 3, 4

means you are counting

beat 1, beat 2, beat 3, and beat 4
of bar 3

in that order.

It looks like a slightly odd way to count, but once you get used to it, you're less likely to lose track of where you are in the track.

Why DJs count bars

In DJing, the basic principle is not to bring in the next track at a random moment, but to bring it in to match a division of the track.

When you brought in track B on the previous page, you also started it to match a division of track A.

Once you can count bars, you'll be able to keep track of

"how many more bars until I bring in the next track."

at any point.

At first, it's enough to be able to

count 1, 2, 3, 4 along with the sound,

and to know that

4 beats make 1 bar.

Those two things are enough.

Try counting 8 bars

In this textbook, we first use 8 bars as one easy-to-follow unit.

For 8 bars:

4 beats × 8 bars = 32 beats

That is the total.

In the earlier "Connecting Two Tracks for the First Time" lesson, too, you overlapped track A and track B for 8 bars.

Real tracks don't always change every 8 bars.

However, many dance music tracks develop in multiples of 4 or 8, so if you first learn to count 8 bars, it will make what comes next much easier to understand.

On the next page, you'll learn about the phrase, which is made up of several bars grouped together.