How to use it
Press Start to begin the click and press it again to stop. On a keyboard the spacebar does the same thing. Browsers refuse to play sound until you interact with the page, so the metronome never starts on its own when the page opens.
Change the tempo with the slider, the number box, or the -5, -1, +1 and +5 buttons. You can adjust it while playing: the beat is never interrupted and the new speed takes effect from the next beat. If you do not know the tempo of a song, use Tap tempo. Tap along with the music four or so times and it averages the gaps into a BPM. If you pause for more than two seconds it forgets the earlier taps and starts fresh.
Pick a time signature and the beat indicator changes its number of cells; the first beat gets a higher pitch and its own colour. In compound meters such as 6/8 and 12/8, the first beat of each group of three also gets a medium accent. Turning on a subdivision adds quieter clicks between the beats so you can hear where eighth notes, triplets or sixteenth notes fall. Set the volume with the slider; the last settings you used are restored the next time you open the page.
With the tempo trainer on, the metronome starts at your start BPM, raises the tempo by a set amount every few bars, and holds the target speed once it gets there. While it plays, the current bar's BPM is shown in large digits.
How to practise guitar with a metronome
The most common mistake is practising at the song's full speed from the start. If you repeat a passage faster than your hands know it, you are rehearsing the mistakes. Start a difficult section at about 50 to 60 percent of the target tempo and raise it by roughly 5 BPM only after you can play it cleanly several times in a row. Playing slowly and accurately is the fastest route in the long run.
Use subdivisions for strumming and picking. In 4/4 with eighth-note subdivision on, a quiet click lands on every "and" of "1 and 2 and", so you can hear exactly where your upstroke falls. Triplets suit blues and shuffle feels, and sixteenth notes help with funk muting and fast picking. Keep your picking hand moving the same way and change only one thing at a time, such as the timing of a chord change, so you know which variable is giving you trouble.
The tempo trainer automates speed building. Set a start of 80, a target of 110 and +5 every four bars, and the tempo creeps up while you loop the same phrase. You never have to reach for the slider, and you can see clearly at which speed your mistakes begin to pile up. A step or two below that speed is your solid tempo for today.
A classic way to build internal time is to hear the click only on beats 2 and 4. Here you can get the same effect by halving the tempo and treating each click as beat 2 or 4, so you have to supply the beats in between yourself. Short sessions of 10 to 15 minutes keep your focus better than one long one, and at the end, switch the metronome off and check that you can hold the same speed alone.
Understanding time signatures and subdivisions
A time signature tells you how many beats are in a bar and what kind of note each beat is. 4/4 has four quarter-note beats and covers most pop and rock. 3/4 counts in three like a waltz and 2/4 counts in two like a march. 5/4 and 7/8 are odd meters, usually felt as groups such as 3+2, 2+3 or 2+2+3; Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" is the classic 5/4 example. This metronome groups 7/8 as 2+2+3, accenting the 1st, 3rd and 5th beats.
6/8 and 12/8 are compound meters in which eighth notes are grouped in threes and each group feels like one beat. 6/8 has two big beats per bar and 12/8 has four, each containing three eighth notes, which you hear a lot in blues ballads and arpeggiated songs. The BPM here sets the speed of each visible click, so in 6/8 one click is one eighth note. If you prefer to count the big beats, set the tempo accordingly lower.
A subdivision splits each beat into smaller parts: eighth notes into two, triplets into three, sixteenth notes into four. The subdivision clicks are deliberately quieter so the main beat stays clear. A good order is to practise with beats only, then switch a subdivision on in the places where your rhythm wobbles to check the spacing.
Why browser timing can be accurate
If a web page simply plays a sound every fixed interval, the beat jitters. JavaScript timers fire tens of milliseconds late when other work gets in the way or the tab goes to the background, and in music even 10 milliseconds can feel unsteady.
This metronome uses lookahead scheduling with the Web Audio API. A timer wakes about every 25 milliseconds, finds the clicks that must sound in the next 100 milliseconds, and schedules them at exact times on the audio hardware clock. The sound itself is produced by that clock, so a timer that wakes a little late does not change the spacing of the beats. The visual beat indicator is driven by the same clock, which keeps what you see in step with what you hear.
When the tab is in the background the browser may slow timers heavily, but clicks that are already scheduled still sound at their exact times. If the delay grows too long, missed beats are skipped rather than played in a burst, and timing resumes from the present moment. On phones, the operating system may stop audio when the screen turns off, so keep the screen on while you practise.
Frequently asked questions
I cannot hear anything. What should I check?
First make sure you pressed Start yourself, because browsers block sound without a user action. On iPhone and iPad, web audio can be muted by the silent switch, so turn it off and press Start again. Also check the device volume, the volume slider on this page, and any Bluetooth device that may be connected.
How accurate is the BPM?
Tempo is set in whole BPM steps. At a constant tempo, beat times are computed from the audio clock, so errors do not accumulate over time. Any tiny deviation in beat spacing is far below what a person can hear.
How does tap tempo work?
It averages up to the last four gaps between your taps to get a BPM. If you pause for two seconds or more it discards the earlier taps and starts over, and the result is limited to 30-300 BPM. The first tap only sets a starting point, so a number appears from the second tap.
What happens if the trainer start BPM is higher than the target?
Descending training is not supported. If the start is higher than the target, the target is set equal to the start and a notice is shown. In that case the tempo does not rise and simply stays at the start BPM.
Are my settings saved? Do you collect personal data?
Your last tempo, time signature, subdivision, volume and trainer settings are saved only in this browser's localStorage and restored on your next visit. They are never sent to a server, and they disappear if you clear the site data. The metronome still works if storage is blocked.
Does it keep playing if I switch tabs or turn off the screen?
On desktop browsers, clicks that are already scheduled keep sounding accurately after you switch tabs. On mobile, the operating system may stop audio when the screen turns off or you switch apps, so keep this page open while practising.