Online Metronome

Set your desired BPM using the +/- buttons or type a number directly. Choose a time signature (4/4, 3/4, or 6/8) and press Start — or tap the spacebar to start and stop from the keyboard. The first beat of each measure is accented, and the volume slider adjusts the click without touching your device volume. Use the Tap Tempo tool to find the BPM of a song, then bring it directly into the metronome.

Pick a short passage, set the metronome slower than feels comfortable, and play it cleanly several times in a row. Only then raise the tempo — 4 to 8 BPM at a time. If mistakes creep in, drop back down. This loop (clean, slightly faster, clean again) is how players build speed that holds up under pressure. Try accenting with the click on beat 1 and locking your strumming hand to the subdivision in between.

Playing slowly gives your hands time to make every movement deliberately, which is what your muscle memory actually records. Practice fast and sloppy, and you memorize sloppy. A passage you can play perfectly at 60 BPM will climb to full speed in days; a passage you keep fumbling at 120 BPM can stay broken for weeks. Slow practice feels less impressive and works dramatically better.

For new material, start where you can play without pausing — often 50-70% of the target tempo. As a reference: ballads sit around 60-80 BPM, mid-tempo pop and rock around 90-120 BPM, and fast rock or punk at 140-180 BPM. If you're learning a song, find its tempo with the Tap Tempo tool, then practice below it and work up.

The time signature sets how beats group into measures. 4/4 — four beats per measure — covers most pop, rock, and blues. 3/4 has three beats per measure, the classic waltz feel. 6/8 groups six quick beats into two pulses of three: this metronome accents beat 1 strongly and beat 4 lightly, so you can feel that two-pulse swing, as in many ballads and Irish jigs.