Free Online Metronome

Set the tempo with the slider, choose a time signature and press Play — or the space bar. The online metronome runs right in your browser, with nothing to install.

Few skills separate an amateur from a professional as much as the ability to hold a firm, steady tempo. Whether you are practicing scales on the piano, strumming patterns on the guitar or long passages on the violin, an online metronome is the reference tool for any instrumental practice, straight from your browser with nothing to install.

This guide explains what a metronome is, why you should use one, and how this tool can help you build your sense of rhythm.

What is a metronome, and why does it matter?

A metronome is a device (here, a web tool) that produces a visual and audible signal at perfectly regular intervals. The speed is measured in BPM, or beats per minute.

At 60 BPM you hear exactly one beat per second, like the second hand of a clock. At 120 BPM the pulse is twice as fast: two beats per second.

Practicing with a metronome gives you three key benefits:

1. Relentless rhythmic accuracy: it removes the natural tendency to rush the easy parts of a score and slow down in the hard measures. (Measure is the US word; in the UK it is a bar.)
2. Measurable progress: you can check exactly whether you are getting faster on a difficult technical passage.
3. A sense of groove: especially in contemporary styles, playing “in the pocket” (exactly on the beat) makes the music sound professional.

How to use the metronome (step by step)

The Teoría Musical metronome is very simple to use:

1. Set the tempo (BPM): use the slider or the “+” and “−” buttons to find the speed you want. For a first session with a new piece, start between 60 and 70 BPM.
2. Choose a subdivision (optional): you can hear only the main beat (quarter notes) or turn on subdivisions (eighth notes, sixteenth notes or triplets).
3. Set the time signature: if the score is in 4/4 (quadruple meter), choose 4/4. The metronome plays a different sound (often higher, or a “bell”) on the first beat of every measure, which makes it easier to follow your place in the measure.
4. Press Play.

Features of the online metronome

This metronome goes beyond the basic click. These are the features that make it especially useful for studying music:

• Simple and compound meters: choose from 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4 (simple) and 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 15/8 (compound). The first beat of each measure is accented automatically.
• Custom meters: build the asymmetric meters of contemporary music, flamenco or modern jazz — such as 5/8, 7/8 or 11/8 — by grouping eighth notes freely (groups of 1, 2 or 3).
• Subdivisions: switch on quarter, eighth, triplet, sixteenth, quintuplet, sextuplet, septuplet or ×8 to practice any rhythmic figure.
• Built-in drum machine: accompany the click with drum patterns (kick, snare, open and closed hi-hat), with presets for each time signature: Rock, Pop, Funk, Bossa, Reggae, Shuffle, Waltz, Jig…
• Speed Trainer: set a BPM range (start → end) and a number of measures. The metronome raises the tempo gradually and automatically, which is ideal for getting through difficult passages.
• Tap tempo: hit the T key or the TAP button in time with a song to find its BPM.
• Per-beat accents: click any beat of the measure to cycle through Strong, Medium, Weak and Muted — useful for working on polyrhythms and off-beats.
• Click sounds: temple block, claves, cowbell, classic (a bright digital click), electronic (sine plus transient) or digital (a pure beep). The click and accent volumes are adjusted separately.

Note names in the panel use US terms. If you learned the British names: quarter note = crotchet, eighth note = quaver, sixteenth note = semiquaver, thirty-second note = demisemiquaver, measure = bar.

How accurate is it? Why it does not drift

A steady tempo is the most important thing in a metronome. Many simple web metronomes produce each click with JavaScript timers (setInterval or setTimeout), which can add small timing variations — jitter — because the browser does not guarantee that the code runs at exactly the intended moment.

This metronome uses the Web Audio API together with lookahead scheduling. A JavaScript process works out the next clicks ahead of time, but each sound is scheduled directly on the audio engine’s own clock, which is sample-accurate.

Thanks to this, normal browser variations do not affect the moment each click actually plays. The result is an extremely steady pulse with no audible drift, even in long practice sessions. It is the same timing principle used by many professional browser-based audio applications.

How to use the Speed Trainer to raise the tempo step by step

The Speed Trainer automates the most effective technique in instrumental practice: start slow and speed up gradually. Instead of changing the BPM by hand every few minutes, you set a start tempo, an end tempo and the number of measures at each level. The metronome does the rest.

A typical routine for getting past a difficult passage:

1. Find the point of failure: play the passage and note the BPM where the mistakes begin (say, 88 BPM).
2. Set up the trainer: start BPM = 70, end BPM = 100, measures = 8. The tempo then rises 1–2 BPM every 8 measures, automatically.
3. No interruptions: the metronome raises the tempo for you, so you can focus entirely on playing it correctly without touching anything.
4. Repeat the session the next day from the same starting point. In 3–5 sessions the passage will be solid.

The key is not to force it: if mistakes appear at some level, stop the metronome, drop 5–10 BPM and repeat. Steady progress is always faster than forced progress.

Metronome with a drum machine: practice with a real backing

The built-in drum machine adds real drum patterns — kick, snare and open and closed hi-hat — in exact sync with your tempo. Working with a full pattern instead of a bare click makes it easier to absorb the groove of each style and lets you play “in the pocket” from your first run-through.

To use it, pick a time signature and click any pattern in the Drum Machine box. You can set the volume of each instrument separately, or edit any step by switching the grid cells on and off.

Patterns available for each time signature

The 5/4 and 7/4 meters use the 4/4 patterns as a base; 3/8, 12/8 and 15/8 use the 6/8 patterns. With a Custom meter the drum machine switches off automatically, because an irregular grouping needs practice without a fixed accompaniment until you have absorbed it.

Metronome for odd meters: 5/8, 7/8 and polyrhythms

Asymmetric meters — also called irregular or odd meters, or aksak in the Balkan tradition — are those in which the beats are not all the same length. You find them in flamenco, modern jazz, Balkan music, some 20th-century works (Bartók, Stravinsky) and contemporary genres such as math rock and prog.

With the Custom time signature you can build any grouping:

• 5/8 (2+3): press “+2, +3” and apply. You get two eighth notes plus three eighth notes, with the accents on beats 1 and 3.
• 7/8 (2+2+3): press “+2, +2, +3”. This is the grouping of the Bulgarian ruchenitsa dance, and it is very common in Bulgarian folk music.
• 11/8 (3+3+2+3): press “+3, +3, +2, +3”. Found in some Balkan and Turkish dances (aksak).

To learn an odd meter, start at 50–60 BPM until the grouping is instant — until you feel the accents without counting them — before you raise the tempo. The eighth-note subdivision (2) helps keep the individual beats even while you absorb the asymmetry of the whole.

3 rhythm exercises to start with

These three exercises are an effective starting point. For a complete routine with exercises on the staff, see the Spanish-language guide cómo usar el metrónomo para estudiar.

1. The 50% rule

Find the fastest speed at which you can play a piece without mistakes (say, 100 BPM). Then set the metronome to exactly half (50 BPM) and play the whole piece three times in a row with no mistakes. This builds solid muscle memory.

2. The vanishing beat game

Set the metronome to a comfortable speed (for example, 80 BPM) and play a scale or a warm-up exercise for 4 measures. The real test is to mentally mute it, or turn its volume down, for the next two measures while you try to keep the exact rhythm. When you listen again, check whether you rushed or dragged. (The Mute mode in the Practice box does this automatically.)

3. Measure accents

Set the tool to 4/4 at 60 BPM and tap or play a note on each click. Then deliberately move the accent (the strongest note) to beats 2 and 4, the way traditional jazz and reggae do.

Metronome for every instrument

Metronome for guitar

The guitar is the instrument where a lack of tempo shows most. The most effective approach is to start strumming or fingerpicking at 60–70% of your target speed. The eighth-note subdivision suits eight-beat patterns, and the triplet suits shuffle or blues styles. The drum machine with the Rock or Reggae pattern gives you real musical context while you practice.

Metronome for piano and keyboard

On the piano, the metronome is essential for keeping both hands even. Practice each hand separately at a slow tempo first, then put them together. For scales and arpeggios, the sixteenth-note subdivision is recommended; for pieces with polyrhythms (3 against 2, 4 against 3), the Custom meter lets you program each grouping. The Speed Trainer is ideal for raising the tempo of a hard passage in a controlled way.

Metronome for drums

The built-in drum machine lets you play over real kick, snare and hi-hat patterns while the metronome marks the beats. 4/4 with the Rock pattern lets you work on the basic rudiment, and 6/8 with Jig or Siciliana covers compound meters. The sixteenth-note subdivision is the best one for working on the precision of rolls.

Metronome for strings and winds

Violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet and trumpet all benefit from practicing at a very slow tempo (40–60 BPM) with the eighth-note subdivision, paying attention to the quality of the sound. Raise the tempo by 5 BPM each time you string together 3 repetitions without mistakes. The compound meters 6/8 and 9/8 are especially common in the classical repertoire for these instruments.

Before any practice session, make sure your instrument is in tune: playing out of tune with a metronome builds bad listening habits that are hard to undo later.

Table of musical tempos (BPM)

Tempo markings in Italian are a universal standard in musical notation. This table shows the BPM range for each term and its expressive character. Click a name to set the metronome to that speed.

The label above the slider shows the Italian name for the BPM you have selected, in real time.

Frequently asked questions about the metronome