BPM Metronome

Practice with a steady musical pulse

A metronome supplies a repeating click so that you can compare your playing with a consistent timing reference. Set a tempo, start the tool, and listen to the distance between the beats. At 60 BPM, the clicks are one second apart. At 120 BPM, that gap is half a second. Increasing the number makes the pulse faster.

This browser metronome supports 40–240 BPM, with 3/4 and 4/4 settings, adjustable volume, and mute. The first beat of each bar has a different pitch, and the beat indicators show your place in the pattern. You can use it for scales, difficult passages, chord changes, rhythmic reading, or checking a proposed song tempo.

How to use the online metronome

1. Set the BPM with the number field or slider. Choose a speed at which you can perform the passage with control, even if that is below your eventual target.
2. Select 3/4 for three quarter-note beats per bar or 4/4 for four. Listen for the accented first click to understand where the pattern begins.
3. Set a comfortable volume and press Start metronome. Allow yourself a bar or two to hear the pulse before playing.
4. Practice a short passage while keeping your notes related to the clicks. Press Stop metronome when you finish, or before changing to another task.

Audio starts after you press the button. Keep the tab visible during practice: playback stops when the tab is hidden. Mute silences the click while the visual beat pattern continues. The screen indicators are helpful cues, but the audible pulse is the more useful reference for precise playing.

Understand tempo and time signature

BPM sets the speed of the beat. Time signature sets how those beats are grouped. Switching from 4/4 to 3/4 at 100 BPM does not make individual clicks faster; it changes the accented pattern from every fourth click to every third. This distinction helps you avoid confusing a bar with a single beat.

In this tool, the click represents a quarter-note beat. Eighth notes require two evenly spaced notes between successive quarter-note clicks; sixteenth notes require four. The tool does not add an audible subdivision pattern for you, so count or play those smaller divisions yourself.

Read What Is BPM in Music? for the relationship between beat speed and musical structure. A tempo marking alone does not tell you every rhythmic detail of a passage; note values, accents, and phrasing still matter.

Build a practical rehearsal routine

Choose a small section rather than repeating an entire piece each time. Identify what is difficult: a chord change, a hand crossing, an uneven run, or a rhythm you have not internalized. Begin slowly enough that you can hear the notes, maintain relaxed control, and notice whether your timing moves ahead of or behind the click.

Repeat that section several times at the same speed. Listen for consistent starts and even spaces between notes, rather than treating merely finishing the passage as success. If errors keep appearing in the same place, isolate that transition and simplify it before returning to the longer phrase.

Increase the BPM in small steps after several controlled repetitions. There is no universal increment or target that suits every player. If the passage becomes uneven, reduce the speed and work on the specific difficulty. Our metronome practice guide expands this approach with counting and practice examples.

Learn to hear rushing and dragging

Rushing means your pulse gradually moves ahead of the reference. Dragging means it falls behind. Either can happen even when your first note lands correctly. Listen across a whole phrase: starting and ending together can hide uneven timing in the middle, especially if you compensate with a sudden pause.

Try counting the beats aloud before playing. For an eighth-note rhythm, speaking an even “one and two and” helps connect the smaller divisions to the main pulse. The accented bar start can help you keep your place, but it does not tell you whether a note should be syncopated or where an expressive phrase should lean.

A metronome develops a timing reference; it does not require every musical performance to be mechanically uniform. Practice the notated rhythm first, then make deliberate expressive choices instead of allowing accidental speed changes to decide the phrasing.

Check a song's BPM with the click

Use Tap Tempo to estimate a pulse you hear, or select a local recording in the MP3 BPM Finder. Set the metronome to that estimate, begin close to a beat, and listen to a stable passage over several bars.

If the clicks stay offset by roughly the same amount, they may simply have started between beats. If the offset increases, the proposed BPM may be inaccurate or the recording may change speed. An estimate above or below the tool's range cannot be entered directly; consider a musically appropriate half-time or double-time count and verify what it represents.

The Tempo Finder explains these alternate counts. A metronome can support your listening check, but it cannot identify a song, analyze an audio file, or automatically align its click with a recording.

Metronome questions

Why can I see the beats but hear nothing?

Check the tool's volume and mute setting, your device output, and whether browser audio is allowed. Press Start if playback has stopped. The tool shows an error if it cannot start its audio context.

Will it keep playing in a background tab?

No. Playback stops when this tab becomes hidden. Return to the page and start it again for your next practice session.

Does this metronome support 6/8?

The current time-signature choices are 3/4 and 4/4. It does not provide a dedicated 6/8 compound-meter pattern, custom accents, or an automatic tempo ramp.

Can I calculate the time between clicks?

Yes. Divide 60,000 by BPM to get a quarter-note beat duration in milliseconds. The Delay & Reverb Calculator displays that interval and related note values for the tempo you enter.