A metronome is the simplest practice tool a musician owns: a steady click that does not speed up when you get excited or slow down when a passage gets hard. Using one well takes a little vocabulary, though. This guide explains what BPM measures, how Italian tempo words such as Allegro relate to numbers, what time signatures and subdivisions change about the click, and how to practice with a metronome so it actually improves your timing.
BPM stands for beats per minute. It counts how many beats pass in 60 seconds, so the gap between two beats is always 60 divided by the BPM:
| BPM | Time between beats |
|---|---|
| 60 | 1 second |
| 90 | 0.67 seconds |
| 120 | 0.5 seconds |
| 150 | 0.4 seconds |
| 180 | 0.33 seconds |
At 120 BPM two beats fall in every second. The BPM says how fast the beat is, but not how many beats there are in a bar. That comes from the time signature.
Before metronomes, composers wrote the speed in Italian. The words are still used today, and each covers a range of BPM. The Online Metronome shows the marking for whatever tempo you set:
| Marking | BPM | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Larghissimo | 20 to 39 | Extremely slow |
| Largo | 40 to 59 | Slow and broad |
| Larghetto | 60 to 65 | Somewhat broad |
| Adagio | 66 to 75 | Slow and relaxed |
| Andante | 76 to 107 | A walking pace |
| Moderato | 108 to 119 | Moderate |
| Allegro | 120 to 155 | Fast and lively |
| Vivace | 156 to 175 | Quick and bright |
| Presto | 176 to 199 | Very fast |
| Prestissimo | 200 and above | As fast as possible |
The ranges are conventions, and different books draw the boundaries in slightly different places. Treat them as a guide to the character of the music, not as exact limits.
A time signature tells you how many beats make up a bar and which note gets one beat. In 4/4, there are four quarter-note beats per bar, and the first is usually the strongest. In 3/4, there are three, as in a waltz. In 2/4 there are two, as in many marches.
Compound time, such as 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8, is felt in groups of three eighth notes, so the beat is a dotted quarter note. 6/8 has two beats per bar, 9/8 has three and 12/8 has four. That is why a metronome set to 6/8 only clicks twice per bar: the BPM counts those larger beats. At 120 BPM, a 6/8 bar is counted at 120 dotted quarter notes per minute, which is the same pace as 180 quarter notes per minute. To hear every eighth note, add a subdivision.
The Online Metronome offers 1/4 to 5/4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8 and 12/8, plus a custom setting of up to 16 beats per bar.
Two ideas shape what you hear between the beats.
Accents make beat 1 louder so you can feel where the bar starts. Press any beat dot to turn it into an accent, a normal click or a silent beat. Muting beats is useful practice: if the click only sounds on beat 1, you have to keep the rest of the bar going yourself.
Subdivisions split each beat into smaller, equal parts with quieter clicks:
Subdividing is the best way to learn a tricky rhythm, because it makes the gaps between the beats audible. A rest or a long note is much easier to place when you can hear where the small notes fall.
Press Tap tempo in time with the music. The Online Metronome averages your last taps (up to six), ignores one that is far off the rest, and starts a new count after a pause of more than 2.5 seconds. Tap at least four times for a stable reading, and tap along for a bit longer on a song that changes speed.
Here are rough tempos for some styles, which individual songs often depart from:
| Style | Typical BPM |
|---|---|
| Ballads | 60 to 80 |
| Hip-hop | 80 to 100 |
| Pop | 100 to 130 |
| House | 120 to 130 |
| Drum and bass | 160 to 180 |
An online metronome is accurate when it hands each click to the browser's audio engine slightly ahead of time and lets the audio clock play it, instead of firing the clicks from an ordinary timer. That is how the Online Metronome works, so the spacing between clicks does not depend on how busy the page is. Your device's output latency, the short delay between the audio engine and the speaker, is the only offset, and it delays every click by the same amount. Keep the tab in view while you play, because browsers throttle background tabs, and a Bluetooth speaker or headphones add noticeable latency of their own.
The Online Metronome plays steady clicks from 20 to 300 BPM and names the tempo as you change it. It has time signatures, subdivisions, accents, tap tempo and a speed trainer, with a choice of four synthesized sounds and the tempo shown in the tab title. Every sound is made on your own device.
What does BPM mean in music? Beats per minute: the number of beats in one minute. 60 BPM is one beat per second, and 120 BPM is two.
What BPM is Allegro? In the Online Metronome, Allegro covers 120 to 155 BPM. Moderato sits just below it, at 108 to 119, and Vivace just above, at 156 to 175.
What BPM should I practice at? Begin at about 60 to 70 percent of the target tempo, where you can play the passage cleanly, and raise it by a few BPM each time it feels easy.
Why does 6/8 only click twice per bar? In compound time the metronome counts the dotted quarter note as the beat, so 6/8 has two beats per bar. Choose a triplet subdivision if you want to hear all six eighth notes.
How do I find the BPM of a song? Use tap tempo: tap along with the music at least four times and the tool averages the intervals into a BPM. Songs that speed up or slow down will not give a single fixed number.
Can an online metronome keep time as well as a physical one? Yes, if it schedules its clicks on the browser's audio clock, as the Online Metronome does. The remaining difference is your device's output latency, which delays every click equally and does not change the spacing between them.