Online Metronome
Steady clicks for practice, with accents, subdivisions and a tempo trainer.
Metronome
Tempo 100 BPM Andante — at a walking pace
Silent bar — keep counting
Bar 1 · beat 1 · 0:00
Keyboard: Space start or stop · ↑ ↓ tempo ±1 (with Shift ±10) · T tap
Tempo and rhythm
The tempo counts the beat note: in 6/8 it counts eighth notes (180 eighths a minute is 60 dotted quarters). Press a beat above to make it an accent, a medium accent, normal or silent.
Practice
About the Online Metronome
A metronome for practice at any tempo from 20 to 300 beats per minute. Choose a time signature, make any beat an accent, a medium accent, normal or silent, and add 8ths, triplets, 16ths or swing between the beats. Find a song’s tempo with Tap tempo, then practise with the speed trainer, which raises the tempo a few BPM every few bars, or with silent bars, which drop the click so you can check that you are still on time when it comes back.
The clicks are timed by your device’s audio clock, not by the page’s timers: every click is scheduled a fraction of a second ahead at its exact moment, so the beat stays steady even when the page is busy or in a background tab. The large beat light follows the sound you hear. Once loaded, the metronome works offline.
How to use it
- Set the tempo: type it, drag the slider, use −10 / −1 / +1 / +10, pick a marking such as Andante 92, or tap Tap tempo in time with the music.
- Choose the beats per bar and the beat note (or a preset such as 3/4 or 6/8). Press a beat in the row to change its accent.
- Pick a subdivision and a sound, and set the volume.
- Press Start (or the Space bar). The light flashes on every beat, and the bar and time count up.
- For practice, switch on the speed trainer (start, target, step and bars) or silent bars (bars with clicks, then bars without).
Examples
One click every 0.5 s (60 ÷ 120), an accent every fourth click: a bar lasts 2 seconds.
6/8, tempo 180 (eighth notes)
Six clicks per bar with accents on 1 and 4 — two dotted-quarter pulses a second apart.
Start 60, target 100, +4 every 4 bars, 4/4
The target is reached after 40 bars (10 steps of 4 BPM), about 2 minutes 6 seconds, then the tempo stays at 100.
The off-beat click lands two thirds of the way through each beat: 333 ms after the beat, then 167 ms to the next beat.
Common uses
- Daily practice on any instrument: scales and pieces at a steady tempo, then faster.
- Learning odd meters such as 5/4 and 7/8 with the accents on the right beats.
- Building a sense of time with silent bars (gap clicks).
- Finding the tempo of a song by tapping along.
- Rehearsing a band or choir in time; a steady click for dance and fitness classes.
Why the timing is exact
Browser timers can run late by tens of milliseconds whenever the page is busy, which a musician hears as an uneven beat. This metronome uses the method Chris Wilson described in “A Tale of Two Clocks” (web.dev): a timer only wakes a scheduler every 25 ms, and the scheduler queues each click on the Web Audio API’s sample-accurate audio clock up to 0.3 seconds before it is due. The timer runs in a Web Worker so hidden tabs keep it going, and in a hidden tab the scheduler queues 1.5 seconds ahead. When you change the tempo or the pattern, clicks that are not yet due are cancelled and queued again, so the change is heard at once.
Time signatures, accents and subdivisions
The tempo counts the beat note (the lower number of the time signature): in 4/4 it counts quarter notes, in 6/8 eighth notes. The first beat is accented, and compound and odd meters get medium accents where their groups start — beats 1 and 4 in 6/8, 3 + 2 in 5/4, 2 + 3 in 5/8 and 2 + 2 + 3 in 7/8. Subdivisions add quieter clicks between the beats: two for 8ths, three for triplets, four for 16ths; swing places the off-beat two thirds of the way through the beat (a long–short 2 : 1 feel). A silent beat mutes its own click but not its subdivisions.
Speed trainer and silent bars
The speed trainer starts at the start tempo and changes by the step every set number of bars until it reaches the target; the page shows how many bars and how long that takes. It also works downwards (start faster than the target). Silent bars play a set number of bars with clicks and then a set number without; the beat light keeps going, so you can see whether you are still on beat 1 when the click returns.
Tempo markings
The Italian terms are approximate and sources disagree, but common modern ranges are: Grave below 40, Largo 40–60, Larghetto 60–66, Adagio 66–76, Andante 76–108, Moderato 108–120, Allegro 120–156, Vivace 156–176, Presto 176–200 and Prestissimo above 200 BPM. The page names the range of your tempo; a composer’s own metronome mark always wins.
Limitations
- Bluetooth headphones and speakers often delay the sound by 100–300 ms; for playing along, use wired headphones or the device’s speaker.
- Phones may pause the sound when the screen locks or you switch apps. Keep the page open with Keep the screen on.
- Tap tempo averages up to the last eight taps; a pause of more than 2.5 seconds starts a new count.
- One tempo at a time: polyrhythms and tempo maps for whole songs are not supported.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is an online metronome?
This one schedules every click on the audio clock, which counts individual audio samples (48,000 a second on most devices), so the clicks are as steady as your device’s audio output. Page activity, a busy CPU or a background tab do not shift them.
What tempo should I use for 6/8?
The tempo counts the beat note, so in 6/8 it counts eighth notes. For a feel of two beats per bar at a dotted quarter of 60, set 180 BPM: you hear six clicks per bar with accents on 1 and 4. Prefer one click per pulse? Choose 2/4 with triplets at 60 BPM.
How does tap tempo work?
Tap the button (or press T) in time with the music at least twice. The page averages the gaps between your last taps, ignores a tap that is far off the others, and sets the tempo; a pause of more than 2.5 seconds starts a new count.
What are silent bars good for?
They train your internal clock: you keep playing while the click drops out for a bar or two, and when it returns you hear at once whether you rushed or dragged. Start with 3 bars on and 1 off, then make the silent part longer.
Why do I hear the click late with Bluetooth headphones?
Bluetooth audio is buffered and compressed, which often adds a tenth of a second or more. The beat light follows the output delay the browser reports, which may not include all of it; for playing along, wired headphones or the built-in speaker are tighter.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Once the page has loaded, the metronome needs no connection; nothing is sent anywhere.