Set the tempo, press start, and practice in time. The first beat of every bar is accented.
100 BPM
Beats per bar
How to use
Drag the slider or use the −/+ buttons to set the tempo, choose how many beats per bar (the first is accented with a higher click), and press Start. To match a song's tempo, tap the Tap tempo button along with the music at least four times — the metronome reads your average and sets the BPM for you. Timing uses the Web Audio clock, which schedules every click ahead of time, so the beat stays steady even if the page is busy. Common practice tempos: largo ≈ 50, andante ≈ 80, moderato ≈ 100, allegro ≈ 130, presto ≈ 170.
Why the click stays steady
A metronome built the obvious way — schedule a click, wait, schedule the next — drifts badly in a browser, because the timers that drive web pages are deliberately imprecise and get delayed whenever the page is busy. This one instead uses the Web Audio clock, a separate high-resolution timeline in the audio hardware. Clicks are queued a short distance into the future and play at exactly the sample they were booked for, so scrolling the page or switching apps does not shift the beat.
The first beat of each bar is accented with a higher click. That accent is what turns a stream of identical ticks into a time signature you can actually play against — without it, four-four and three-four sound the same.
Tempo markings and what they mean
Largo, 40-60 BPM — very slow, the tempo of a funeral march or a ballad's opening.
Andante, 76-108 BPM — walking pace, and the range most practice should start in.
Moderato, 108-120 BPM — close to a resting heartbeat, and where most pop music sits.
Allegro, 120-156 BPM — fast and cheerful, the default for a lot of classical first movements.
Presto, 168-200 BPM — very fast, and beyond most people's ability to subdivide accurately.
Practising with it properly
The most useful thing a metronome does is expose where you rush. Almost everyone speeds up through easy passages and slows through hard ones, and you cannot hear it in your own playing without a fixed reference. Set the tempo well below the speed you want, play the passage cleanly four times in a row, then add four beats per minute and repeat. Progress is slower than it feels like it should be and far more permanent.
Once a passage is comfortable, try setting the metronome to half the tempo and hearing the click on beats two and four only. Losing two thirds of the reference forces you to keep the pulse internally, which is the skill you actually need on stage.
To match a recording, tap the tap-tempo button along with the music at least four times. The tool averages your taps rather than using the last interval, so a single mistimed tap barely moves the result.
Why does the beat sound so steady compared to other web metronomes?
Clicks are scheduled on the Web Audio hardware clock a fraction of a second in advance, instead of relying on JavaScript timers that drift when the browser is busy. The result is timing accurate to a few milliseconds, steady enough for serious practice.
How do I find the BPM of a song?
Play the song and hit the Tap tempo button on every beat, at least four times. The metronome averages your last taps and sets the BPM automatically — then press Start to play along with the detected tempo.
What tempo should I practice at?
Slower than you think — pick a tempo where you can play the passage perfectly, even if that is half speed, then raise it in small steps (4–8 BPM) only after several clean repetitions. Accuracy at a slow tempo builds speed far faster than sloppy repetitions at full tempo.
What do tempo words like allegro and andante mean in BPM?
Rough ranges: Largo 40–60, Adagio 66–76, Andante 76–108, Moderato 108–120, Allegro 120–156, Presto 168–200 BPM. They're guidelines, not laws — set the metronome inside the range and adjust to what the piece needs.
What does a 4/4 or 3/4 time signature mean?
The top number is how many beats per measure; the bottom is which note gets one beat. 4/4 (four quarter-note beats) covers most pop and rock, 3/4 is the waltz feel, and 6/8 groups fast beats in two sets of three. The accented first beat helps you feel where each measure starts.
Should I always practice with a metronome?
Use it for most technical practice — it exposes rushing and dragging you can't hear yourself. But also play without it regularly to work on expression and natural phrasing. A common routine: learn slow with the click, polish musicality without it, then verify tempo with the click again.