Tap Tempo & Metronome

What it's for

Find the tempo of a piece of music, and keep time while you play. Tapping along gives the speed in beats per minute (BPM); the metronome clicks steadily at any speed, with the first beat of each bar higher to mark it.

For example, when you’re learning a song by ear, tap along to the recording to find its tempo, then practise with the metronome at a slower speed and build up.

How to use it

Tap tempo: tap the button in time with the beat, with a mouse, finger or (once the button is selected) Space or Enter. After two taps it shows the BPM, averaged over your last eight taps, and puts it in Beats a minute. Pause for more than 2.5 seconds to start again.

Metronome: set Beats a minute (20 to 400) and Beats to a bar, and choose whether to Accent the first beat, then Start. The dots show where you are in the bar. These settings are remembered in this browser.

Example

Tap the button steadily twice a second. After a few taps it shows about 120.0 BPM and puts 120 in Beats a minute. Set Beats to a bar to 3 and Start: you hear a high click and two lower ones, again and again, at 120 beats a minute.

Good to know

Tapping is only as steady as your taps: tap for several bars for a reliable figure. The clicks are timed by the device’s sound system and stay steady while the page is busy, but some browsers slow or stop sound in a background tab, so keep the page in front.