Online Metronome
Free online metronome with tap tempo, accent beats, subdivisions and a tempo trainer. Set the BPM (20–300), pick a time signature, and press Play — or tap your tempo in.
Set Your Tempo, then Press Play
Metronome Formula
Where:
- \(\Delta t\) — the time between two clicks, in seconds
- \(\text{BPM}\) — the tempo you set, in beats per minute (20–300)
- \(n\) — the number of complete bars played so far
- \(s\) — BPM increase per step (the "BPM increase per step" field)
- \(N\) — bars per step (the "Bars per step" field)
- \(\lfloor\cdot\rfloor\) — rounding down to a whole number, so the tempo only jumps at a bar line
The first formula converts a tempo in beats per minute into an exact click interval in seconds. The second shows how the tempo trainer gradually speeds the metronome up: after every \(N\) bars the tempo grows by \(s\) BPM, never exceeding 300 BPM.
Metronome – Calculation Example
Example: you run the metronome at its default tempo of 120 BPM with the trainer enabled, raising the tempo by 5 BPM every 4 bars.
\[ \Delta t = \frac{60}{120} = 0.5\ \text{s} \]
\[ \text{BPM}_\text{eff}(12) = \min\!\left(300,\ 120 + 5 \left\lfloor \frac{12}{4} \right\rfloor\right) = \min(300,\ 135) = 135\ \text{BPM} \]
Result: each click is 0.5 s apart at the start, and after 12 bars (three steps) the metronome has reached 135 BPM, where the interval tightens to \(60/135 \approx 0.444\) s.
How to use the calculator
- Set the Tempo (BPM) — type a value between 20 and 300, use the −/+ buttons next to the Play button, or press the ↑/↓ arrow keys.
- Choose a Time signature from the list, or pick Custom and enter your own Custom beats per bar (1–16) and Custom beat unit (quarter or eighth note).
- Pick a Subdivision: quarter notes (1 click per beat), eighth notes (2), triplets (3) or sixteenths (4).
- Select the Click sound (Click, Wood block or Beep) and set the Volume from 0 to 100%. At 0% the clicks are silent and only the dots flash.
- Leave Accent the first beat ticked if you want beat 1 louder and marked by the red-ringed dot; untick it for an even, unaccented pulse.
- To practise speeding up gradually, tick Use tempo trainer and set the BPM increase per step and Bars per step.
- Press Play (or the Space key) to start and stop the metronome. To find a tempo by feel, press Tap tempo in rhythm at least twice — the estimated BPM appears in the Tap tempo field and fills the Tempo field for you.
What is a metronome?
A metronome is a device that produces a steady, audible pulse so musicians can practise playing at a consistent tempo. The speed is measured in beats per minute (BPM): at 120 BPM the metronome fires 120 clicks every 60 seconds, or exactly one click every \(60/120 = 0.5\) seconds. Instead of the old mechanical pendulum, this online metronome uses the Web Audio clock of your browser, scheduling each click about 100 ms in advance so the beat stays rock-steady and never drifts the way naive timers do.
The tempo marking shown under the beat indicator tells you where your BPM sits on the traditional Italian scale used in sheet music:
| Marking | BPM range | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Largo | below 60 | very slow |
| Adagio | 60–71 | slow and stately |
| Andante | 72–107 | at a walking pace |
| Moderato | 108–119 | moderate |
| Allegro | 120–167 | fast, lively |
| Presto | 168 and above | very fast |
The time signature controls how the clicks group into bars: in 4/4 you hear four beats per bar with beat 1 accented, while 6/8 and 7/8 count eighth-note beats. The subdivision inserts extra softer clicks inside each beat — useful for checking the evenness of eighth notes, triplets or sixteenths. The tempo trainer turns the metronome into a progressive-speed practice tool: it starts at your BPM and quietly adds a step after every N full bars, which is a classic way to build speed on scales, riffs or chord changes.
The beat indicator dots light up exactly on each click, so you can follow your place in the bar at a glance — the red-ringed dot marks beat 1, and the Current bar counter shows how many bars you have played. Together with the tap tempo, this makes the tool handy for finding the BPM of a song: tap along with the music and read the estimate.
Tips and limitations
- Keep the tab visible. Browsers throttle timers in background tabs, so the metronome should stay on screen while you play with it.
- Tempo changes while playing. You can adjust the BPM, subdivision, volume or sound without stopping; if you change the number of beats per bar, the pattern restarts at a bar line to keep the dots and trainer aligned.
- Tap tempo needs a steady hand. It averages up to your last nine taps; a pause longer than two seconds starts a new group. A few extra taps make the estimate more stable.
- BPM counts one beat of your meter. In 6/8 and 7/8 one beat is an eighth note, so 120 BPM in 6/8 sounds twice as fast in eighth notes as 120 BPM in 4/4 does in quarters.
- Silent practice. Setting the volume to 0% leaves the visual dots working — handy when you need the pulse without the sound disturbing others.
- Sound requires Web Audio. The clicks are synthesized in your browser, so nothing is downloaded; if the browser blocks audio until you interact with the page, press Play once to unlock it.
If you also plan your practice sessions around the clock, our Pomodoro timer helps you work in focused intervals, the online countdown timer tracks timed drills, and the online stopwatch with laps is useful for measuring how long each exercise actually takes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find the BPM of a song with this metronome?
Play the song, press the Tap tempo button in time with the beat, and keep tapping — the estimate is averaged over up to your last nine taps, so five to nine steady taps give the most reliable result. Then compare it to the sheet music tempo marking if you have one. Treat the result as a starting point: recordings sometimes drift slightly, and live performances often speed up or slow down over time.
How do I convert BPM into seconds per beat or into hertz?
Divide 60 by the BPM: the time between clicks is \(\Delta t = \frac{60}{\text{BPM}}\) seconds. At 90 BPM you get \(\frac{60}{90} \approx 0.667\) s per beat, and at 60 BPM exactly 1 second. To express a tempo as a frequency in Hz, divide the BPM by 60 instead — 120 BPM equals 2 beats per second, or 2 Hz.
What is a good BPM for practicing as a beginner?
Start slow enough that you can play a passage three or four times in a row without mistakes — commonly 60–80 BPM — then raise the tempo by 4–8 BPM at a time with the tempo trainer. Accuracy always comes before speed; a common guideline is to drop back 10–20% whenever errors creep in. Most exercises end up somewhere in the 80–140 BPM range before performance speed.
Why does 120 BPM in 6/8 sound faster than 120 BPM in 4/4?
Because the beat unit differs. BPM always counts one beat of the meter you selected, and in 6/8 or 7/8 one beat is an eighth note, not a quarter note. So the same number represents twice as many notes per minute in eighth-note meters. If a 6/8 piece feels too fast, halve the BPM — many musicians conduct 6/8 in two, treating the dotted quarter as the real pulse.
What are common mistakes when practicing with a metronome?
The biggest one is starting too fast and rehearsing mistakes until they stick. Others include always practicing at one tempo (never slow or never fast), ignoring the accented downbeat so you lose your place in the bar, and tapping your foot instead of subdividing mentally — which hides rushing or dragging between beats. Use a subdivision such as eighths or sixteenths occasionally: extra clicks expose uneven timing that quarter-note clicks alone can miss.
How accurate is the tap tempo, and how can I improve it?
It works by measuring the average interval between your taps, so consistency matters more than the number of taps. A pause longer than two seconds resets the group, and only intervals between 20 and 300 BPM are accepted, so long gaps or double-taps produce no estimate. To get a stable reading, relax your arm, tap along for eight or nine beats, and don't consciously 'correct' mid-stream — small errors average out on their own.
What BPM ranges do the Italian tempo markings cover?
Traditional sheet-music markings map roughly as follows: Largo below 60 BPM, Adagio 60–71, Andante 72–107, Moderato 108–119, Allegro 120–167, and Presto 168 and above. These are conventions, not rules — markings were subjective long before metronomes existed, and different editions of the same piece may suggest different BPMs. The ranges shown under the beat indicator tell you which label your current tempo falls under.