How to write a reggaeton song: dembow, chords, flow and hook

To write a reggaeton song, loop a dembow beat somewhere between 88 and 100 BPM, put four minor chords under it (i–♭VI–♭III–♭VII, for example Am–F–C–G) and find the flow before the words: mumble rhythms over the loop until your stressed syllables lock onto the kick and the snare hits of the dembow. Then write a hook of two to four words for the chorus, a verse with concrete details and rhymes that chain for several lines, and a pre-chorus where the beat drops out so the chorus hits harder. The classic order is intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, chorus. If you write with other people, fill in a split sheet before anyone leaves the session.

Below: the dembow as an audio example and a grid, loops for the free chord player, an original song written for this article and the steps to a first demo.

Reggaeton at a glance: what defines the genre

Reggaeton took shape in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, out of Panamanian reggae in Spanish and Jamaican dancehall, and Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” (2004) opened the door to the rest of the world. Today it’s a global genre: Bad Bunny was Spotify’s most-streamed artist worldwide in 2020, 2021, 2022 and again in 2025. You don’t have to live in San Juan or Medellín to write one, but the genre has conventions worth knowing before you break them.

Element	Typical reggaeton choice	Why it matters
Beat	Dembow: kick on every beat, snare in a 3+3+2 figure	It’s the signature; the voice rides it
Tempo	About 88–100 BPM, some modern tracks at 110 or more	Slow enough to dance to and to fit words
Chords	One loop of two to four minor chords	The beat and the voice carry the change
Form	Intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, chorus	Verses move the story, the chorus repeats
Voice	Rapped or half-sung verses, a sung chorus, ad-libs	Many artists switch between rap and melody
Hook	A short phrase repeated two to four times	People sing it back on the first listen
Language	Mostly Spanish, often mixed with English	Write in the language you know best

For style references, listen to how Daddy Yankee and Don Omar ride a bare dembow, how J Balvin and Karol G keep a chorus down to a few words, and how Bad Bunny switches between rap and melody inside a single verse. Borrow the approach, never the lines.

Hear the dembow: the beat under every reggaeton song

Press play and follow the times. It’s a short, synthesized teaching example, not a finished production.

After the count-in (0:00–0:02), Am comes in at about 0:03, F at 0:05, C at 0:08 and G at 0:10, and the loop repeats from 0:13 to about 0:23. The kick and the keyboard hit all four beats of every bar. The snare doesn’t: it hits just before beat 2 and on the “and” of 2, then just before 4 and on the “and” of 4. That limping “boom… ch-boom-ch” is the dembow.

Here is one bar on a grid of sixteenth notes (X is a hit):

count   1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
kick    X . . . X . . . X . . . X . . .
snare   . . . X . . X . . . . X . . X .
hi-hat  X . X . X . X . X . X . X . X .

Count each half bar in sixteenths from the kick: three to the first snare, three to the second, two back to the next kick. That 3+3+2 grouping is the tresillo, the rhythm the dembow is built on. The name comes from “Dem Bow”, an early-1990s dancehall song by Shabba Ranks. Its riddim, credited to the Jamaican duo Steely & Clevie, and a dub track called “Pounder” were sampled so often by Puerto Rican producers that the pattern became the backbone of the genre. In the Dominican Republic the same rhythm, played faster and rawer, became a genre of its own, Dominican dembow, which is why “dembow” can mean either the beat or that style.

Step 1: set the tempo and loop four minor chords

Most reggaeton sits between 85 and 100 BPM, according to MusicRadar’s beat-building guide, and “Despacito” runs at 89. The slower end (88–92) suits romantic and moody songs; 95–100 feels closer to the club. If a romantic idea wants an even softer groove and seventh chords instead of minor triads, you’re drifting into R&B: see how to write an R&B song. If a reference track is stuck in your head, tap along in the tap tempo metronome to get its BPM, and read what BPM means if tempo and feel don’t seem to match.

The harmony is usually one short minor loop that never changes. These four cover most of what you’ll need, all with dembow drums:

Loop	In A minor	Feel	Open it
i–♭VI–♭III–♭VII	Am–F–C–G	The classic: moody but danceable	Loop at 92 BPM
i–♭VII–♭VI–♭VII	Am–G–F–G	Darker, hypnotic, never quite resolves	Loop at 95 BPM
i–♭VII–♭VI–V	Am–G–F–E	Spanish color from the Andalusian cadence	Loop at 90 BPM
i–i–iv–iv	Am–Am–Dm–Dm	Two chords, all the room for the voice	Loop at 96 BPM

The first loop is often written i–VI–III–VII. “Despacito” is built on it in B minor, Bm–G–D–A: hear it in that key at 89 BPM. A loop this common belongs to no one; your melody and words make the song yours. The chord progressions guide plays these chords as a slow arpeggio and then over the dembow, so you can hear how much of the genre lives in the groove. If the chorus sits too low or too high for your voice, change the key in the player and keep the numerals, or check what key you should sing in.

Step 2: find the flow before you write the words

Flow is the rhythm of your syllables against the beat, and in reggaeton it matters as much as the melody. Most reggaeton artists rap rather than sing, and many alternate, so a useful default is to rap or half-sing the verse and sing the chorus.

1. Loop the chords with the dembow and mumble on “da” and “ta” for five minutes, recording everything on your phone.
2. Aim your stressed syllables at the kick, which hits every beat, and let short pickups sit on the snare hits so each phrase leans into the next beat.
3. Mix densities. A run of sixteenth notes at 92 BPM is about six syllables per second: use it for a line or two, then hold a word. Nonstop sixteenths tire the ear and your breath.
4. Start phrases in different places: on beat 1, on the snare just before 2, or after a rest. Coming in late, after the downbeat, is one of the genre’s habits.
5. Only then fit words to the rhythm you liked best.

Rhyme is part of the percussion. Reggaeton verses often hold one rhyme sound for four lines or more and add internal rhymes in between. In English, one-syllable rhyme words (go, low, glow, know) land harder on the beat than long ones. The guide on how to rhyme in songs shows how to keep them from sounding forced. The rhyming dictionary gives you a chain of options, and the syllable counter keeps matching lines within a syllable or two of each other. For counting bars and finding the pocket, see how to write lyrics to a beat; for denser verses, how to write a rap song.

Step 3: write a chorus people sing back on the first listen

The chorus has one job: a short phrase that’s easy to shout back.

• Make the title the hook. Two to four words on an open vowel that you can hold: “more”, “go”, “night”, “slow”.
• Put it on the dembow. Try the pickup on the snare hit just before beat 2 and the stressed word right on beat 2, then the same just before 4 and on 4.
• Repeat it two to four times in eight bars. Only the answer lines between the hooks change.
• Sing higher and narrower than the verse. Fewer words, longer notes.
• Leave holes for ad-libs. Short shouts and echoes between lines are part of the hook, not decoration.
• Drop the beat before it. Cut the drums, or at least the kick, in the pre-chorus, and bring the full dembow back on beat 1 of the chorus.

The chorus guide has eight techniques and a test, and the hook guide shows how to check that a phrase sticks. The pop songwriting guide uses the same title-first logic with major chords and a straighter beat.

Step 4: build the form

The classic reggaeton form is intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, chorus. At 92 BPM one bar lasts about 2.6 seconds, so the timeline looks like this:

Section	Bars	At 92 BPM	What it does
Intro	4	0:00–0:10	The beat, a producer tag or a whisper of the hook
Verse 1	16	0:10–0:52	The situation, rapped or half-sung
Pre-chorus	8	0:52–1:13	The dembow drops out, the melody climbs
Chorus	8	1:13–1:34	The hook four times, full beat
Verse 2	16	1:34–2:16	New details, or a guest’s verse
Chorus	8	2:16–2:37	Same words, more ad-libs or a second voice
Outro	4	2:37–2:47	The hook alone, or the beat fading

That’s 64 bars, about 2:47. A second pre-chorus before the last chorus adds 21 seconds. If your first chorus arrives later than you’d like, cut verse 1 to eight bars or open with the hook: the “Reggaeton / urban” form in the song structure planner starts with a pre-chorus and reaches the chorus at 0:31, before the first verse. The song structure guide compares it with pop and rap forms.

Worked example: “One More”

A first draft written for this article over Am–F–C–G at 92 BPM. The verse is half-rapped over the full dembow, the pre-chorus moves to Dm–F–G–E with no drums (loop the pre-chorus) and the chorus brings the beat back.

Verse 1 (Am–F–C–G, one line per bar)

DJ says “last song,” but I’m not ready to go,
coats on the chairs and the bass down low,
your phone on two percent, a little red glow,
you don’t have to say it, I already know.
Taxis outside and the sky’s getting light,
your friends at the door waving “text me tonight,”
one song left to play and we’re holding on tight,
so dance with me now till they switch on the lights.

Pre-chorus (Dm–F–G–E, no drums)

They’re stacking the chairs and they’re sweeping the floor,
the doorman keeps looking from us to the door,
so give me one more.

Chorus (Am–F–C–G, full dembow)

One more, one more,
before the lights come on,
one more, one more,
we’ll sleep when the night is gone.
One more, one more,
the city can wait outside,
one more, one more,
one more and then goodnight.

What each part does:

• Verse: concrete details (the coats, the phone at two percent, the taxis, the sky) and no feeling named. Four lines on one rhyme sound, then four on another: the chain gives the verse its bounce. Start “DJ says” after beat 1 so “last” lands on beat 2, and put “go” on the last snare hit of the bar.
• Pre-chorus: the drums stop, the E chord pulls back toward Am and the last three words are the title, sung almost alone.
• Chorus: “one” sits on the snare hit just before 2 and “more” lands on beat 2, then again just before 4 and on 4. The double “one more” comes four times in eight bars; only the answer lines change.
• Next: verse 2 walks outside at sunrise, or hands the mic to the other person for their side of the night. The chorus stays word for word.

Common mistakes when writing reggaeton (and the fix)

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
It sounds like pop with a drum loop	Every phrase starts on beat 1	Start lines on snare pickups or after a rest
The chorus doesn’t hit	No contrast before it	Drop the beat in the pre-chorus, bring it back on beat 1
The verse feels breathless	Sixteenth notes all the way	Mix fast runs with held words; breathe every two bars
The groove drags or rushes	Tempo chosen by habit	Try 88–92 for moody songs, 95–100 for the club
The hook won’t stick	Too long, or new words every time	Two to four words, repeated exactly
It sounds like a famous song	Same melody and phrasing as a reference	Keep the tempo and the loop, write a new melody

Writing with others: fill in the split sheet the same day

Reggaeton is usually written in teams: a producer builds the beat, writers top-line over it and a featured artist may add a verse. “Despacito” credits three songwriters (Luis Fonsi, Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee), and Anitta’s “Envolver” credits five. Before the session ends, write down on a split sheet who wrote what (beat, melody, lyrics, hook), the percentages everyone agrees on and the date, and get it signed.

The split sheet guide explains how producers and topliners usually split a song and what a sample changes, and how to copyright and register a song covers the registration that comes next. This isn’t legal advice, just the habit that prevents most arguments. Two more habits: program your own dembow instead of sampling an old record, which needs its owners’ permission, and add a guest who writes their own verse to the sheet before release.

Record your first reggaeton demo today

A first demo only has to prove three things: the flow sits on the beat, the hook sticks and the form holds together.

1. Open your loop in the chord player at the final tempo with dembow drums, on a laptop or tablet.
2. Record the whole song once on your phone, 15–20 cm from your mouth, with the loop playing quietly from the speakers. One take, mistakes included.
3. Record the verse twice more: once rapped, once half-sung.
4. Record the chorus three times with different melodies, then one pass of ad-libs only.
5. Listen the next day. If you can’t sing the hook back after one listen, shorten it.

For a version with separate vocal and beat tracks, production happens in a DAW such as GarageBand or BandLab; this guide to apps for beats and full songs compares their free drum and loop tools. The phone recording guide covers distance, levels and room noise.

Where Zoundroom fits: the beat, the flow and every take of the hook

Zoundroom doesn’t make beats, play loops or produce your track. It isn’t a full DAW: its multitrack editor can record your flow over the beat with a delay synced to the tempo, but there’s no pitch correction, reverb or mastering, so the final mix and the vocal chain happen in a DAW such as GarageBand or BandLab. What it does is keep the pieces of a reggaeton song together while you write it, because each song is a project with its recordings, lyrics, notes and files. Create a project called “One More”, put the loop at the top of a note (“A minor, 92 BPM, i–♭VI–♭III–♭VII, dembow”), write the verse under it and, with the loop playing from the chord player, record your mumbled flows inside that note on your phone; each take lands at the cursor, right under the lines it belongs to. Import the producer’s beat into the same project, keep the signed split sheet with the song’s files (PDF import needs Pro) and open it all later on iOS, Android or the web. Free lets you share a project with up to two artists; Pro raises that to four and adds timestamped feedback, so the producer, if they also have Pro, can point to the exact second where the flow drags. Auralis, the app’s assistant, can suggest alternative lines or a structure as text, never audio. Your next step: create the project with your hook as its title and record three versions of the chorus in that note today.

Frequently asked questions

What BPM is reggaeton?

Most reggaeton sits between about 85 and 100 BPM, and 88–96 is a comfortable range to start writing in; “Despacito” runs at 89. Some modern tracks go to 110 or faster, and Dominican dembow plays the same rhythm faster still.

What is the dembow rhythm?

It’s the drum pattern of reggaeton: a kick on every beat and a snare in a 3+3+2 figure, hitting just before beats 2 and 4 and on the “and” of 2 and 4. It takes its name from “Dem Bow”, an early-1990s dancehall song by Shabba Ranks. You can loop it under any chords in the chord player.

What chords are used in reggaeton?

Mostly short loops in a minor key. The most common is i–♭VI–♭III–♭VII (Am–F–C–G, often written i–VI–III–VII); others include i–♭VII–♭VI–♭VII, the Andalusian i–♭VII–♭VI–V and two-chord vamps like Am–Dm. Many songs keep one loop throughout and create contrast by dropping the drums.

Can you write a reggaeton song in English?

Yes. The dembow, the loop and the flow work in any language, and many reggaeton hits mix Spanish and English lines. Write in the language you know best and let the rhythm do the genre work. If you add lines in Spanish, check them with a native speaker so the slang and the stresses sound right.

How do you write reggaeton lyrics?

Start from the rhythm: mumble over the beat until you have a flow, then fit words to it. Keep the chorus to a short title repeated two to four times, write the verse with concrete details and chained rhymes, and land each stressed syllable on the kick or a snare hit.

Sources

All pages checked on September 28, 2026.

• Wikipedia, “Reggaeton”: origin in Puerto Rico from Panamanian reggae in Spanish and Jamaican dancehall; the dembow’s 3+3+2 (tresillo) rhythm over a 4/4 bass drum; verse–chorus–bridge structure with repeated hooks; most artists rap rather than sing and many alternate; “Gasolina” (2004) opening the door globally. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Dembow beat”: the name from Shabba Ranks’s “Dem Bow”; the “Fish Market” (Pocoman Jam) riddim by Steely & Clevie and “Pounder (Dub Mix II)”; the 3+3+2 cross-rhythm; dembow as the core percussion of reggaeton. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Dominican dembow”: a sped-up dembow rhythm, while standard reggaeton uses it at a slower tempo. wikipedia.org
• MusicRadar (Future Music), “Beat Building: how to make a reggaeton beat” (August 17, 2022): tempos typically 85–100 BPM, some contemporary tracks at 110 or faster; kick on all four quarter notes; main snare hits on sixteenth-note positions 4, 7, 12 and 15. musicradar.com
• Wikipedia, “Despacito”: B minor, 89 BPM, Bm–G–D–A, reggaeton and Latin pop; songwriters Luis Fonsi, Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Envolver”: reggaeton song in Spanish by Anitta, with five credited songwriters. wikipedia.org
• Spotify Newsroom, “The Top Artists, Songs, Albums, Podcasts, and Audiobooks of 2025” (December 3, 2025): Bad Bunny top artist globally for the fourth time, after 2020, 2021 and 2022. newsroom.spotify.com