Find your pulse. Keep your time.
A clear count, a steady click or a drum groove to play with.
Ready when you are
Make steady time part of your playing
A metronome gives you a reference. Your job is to feel the spaces between its clicks and keep the music moving.
What you can learn
- Keep a relaxed, even beat while changing chords.
- Hear and count subdivisions without speeding up.
- Feel triplets against an underlying pulse.
- Practise the same phrase with a click and with a drum groove.
How to use this tool
- Choose a comfortable tempo, then tap your foot and count a full bar before playing.
- Play one chord on each beat. Listen for the click and your chord to line up.
- Add quavers or semi-quavers while keeping the same foot pulse.
- Try the phrase with a drum groove. Keep going through small mistakes, then slow down to repair the difficult change.
Frequently asked questions
What does BPM mean?
BPM means beats per minute. At 60 BPM, each beat lasts one second; at 120 BPM, each lasts half a second. Changing the subdivision adds notes between beats without changing the beat speed. In 6/8 Ballad, BPM counts dotted-crotchet beats; in the 5/8 and 7/8 grooves, it counts quavers.
How do I use tap tempo?
Tap the button steadily with the music. After two taps the tempo updates; up to six recent taps are used, taking the middle interval to reduce the effect of an uneven tap. Pause for more than two seconds to start a fresh measurement. The supported range is 30–300 BPM.
What is the difference between quaver and crotchet triplets?
Quaver triplets fit three notes into one beat. Crotchet triplets fit three notes across two beats. Crotchet triplets therefore use even-length bars here. The lower beat-reference click continues underneath them so you can hear where the ordinary beat falls.
How should I count the subdivisions?
Quavers: 1 &. Semi-quavers: 1 e & a. Quaver triplets: 1 trip let. Quintuplets: 1 ta ka di mi. Sextuplets: 1 trip let & trip let. Septuplets: 1 ta ka di mi ta ka. Say every syllable evenly inside its beat. These syllables are memory aids, not accents you must play.
How do the drum grooves work?
Choose Drum machine under Metronome options, then choose a beat and an Acoustic, Electronic or Percussion kit. The 24 patterns include pop, rock, funk, country, shuffle, Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Caribbean and odd-metre grooves. They are compact practice patterns rather than complete arrangements or comprehensive representations of each style.
Will it keep playing when my screen locks?
Browser and device power policies can suspend audio when a screen locks or a tab is put to sleep. Keep this page open for reliable practice. If audio is interrupted, press Play to restart. Sound starts only when you press Play; no microphone or account is required.