What is a metronome?

Metronome: definition

A metronome is a device that produces a regular, audible beat (a click, a tick or a beep) at an adjustable rate, so that a musician can practise or perform at a steady tempo. The rate is set in beats per minute (BPM): at 60 BPM the metronome clicks once a second, at 120 BPM twice a second.

The word comes from Greek: “metron”, measure, and “nomos”, rule or law. A metronome does not tell you what to play, only when. It is a reference you measure your own timing against, which is why even professional players use one when learning a new passage or recording.

A short history

Musicians tried for a long time to fix tempo with pendulums; Étienne Loulié described a pendulum device for the purpose in 1696, but it was tall and silent. The practical breakthrough came around 1814, when the Dutch mechanic Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel in Amsterdam found that a pendulum weighted on both sides of its pivot could swing slowly while staying small.

Johann Nepomuk Maelzel added a scale of tempos and patented the device as a “metronome” in 1815, and his factory made it famous. A Dutch commission later recognised Winkel as the inventor, but Maelzel’s name stuck: tempo markings written as M.M. ♩ = 120 mean “Maelzel’s Metronome, 120 quarter notes per minute”. Beethoven was among the first composers to use it, publishing metronome markings for his symphonies in 1817.

Mechanical, digital and online metronomes

A well-made online metronome is as steady as a quartz one. Ours places each click on the browser’s audio clock in advance instead of using ordinary timers, so it does not drift or stutter when the page is busy. Pick a tempo, set the time signature and the subdivision, and use headphones or a speaker when you play loud instruments.

How to practise with a metronome

Playing along with a click feels strange at first: the metronome seems to speed up and slow down. It doesn’t; that is your own timing showing. These steps make the click a help rather than a judge.

1. Find your clean tempo. Choose a short passage, two bars at most, and lower the tempo until you can play it three times in a row without a mistake. That is your starting point, even if it feels very slow.
2. Listen before you play. Let the click run for a full bar, counting out loud, before you come in. Aim to make your note and the click sound as one, so the click “disappears”.
3. Raise the tempo in small steps, 4–8 BPM at a time, only after three clean repetitions.
4. Step back when it breaks. If mistakes appear, go back two steps. A wrong note practised fast is a wrong note learned.
5. Record yourself against the click now and then. Listening back reveals rushing and dragging you cannot hear while playing.

An example tempo ladder

Say a passage has to sound at 100 BPM. Start at about 80% of the target and work up, finishing slightly above it so that the real tempo feels comfortable.

Three ways to get more from the click

Put the click on 2 and 4

In most pop, rock, jazz and funk the snare drum lands on beats 2 and 4. Halve the metronome tempo and treat each click as beat 2 or beat 4: at 60 BPM the click marks the backbeat of a 120 BPM groove. You have to supply beats 1 and 3 yourself, which builds a much stronger internal pulse.

Use subdivisions for fast notes

When a passage is made of eighth or sixteenth notes, set the metronome to click the subdivision too. It shows exactly where each fast note belongs and stops the notes from bunching up. Remove the subdivision once the passage is even.

Test yourself with silence

Play along at a steady tempo, then turn the volume down for a few bars while you keep playing, and bring it back. If you are still with the click when it returns, your timing is internal. If not, you have found exactly how far you drift, and in which direction.

Common mistakes

• Starting too fast. The most common one by far. Slow and clean wins every time.
• Following the click instead of feeling it. If you wait to hear the click before playing, you will always be late. Anticipate it, as you would a dance partner.
• Never playing without it. Use it for building tempo and checking yourself, then also play the piece freely. Music breathes; the metronome is a training tool, not a cage.
• Big tempo jumps. Going from 80 to 120 in one step hides problems. Small increments find them.

Frequently asked questions