Keyboard: space starts and stops, the arrow keys change the tempo, T taps. In 6/8 each click is an eighth note, with accents on 1 and 4.
How to practise with a metronome
Set it slow enough that you can play the passage cleanly three times in a row, without stopping or tensing up. Then raise it by two to five beats per minute at a time. When mistakes creep in, go back to the last clean tempo.
Count out loud for the first few bars. Matching your count to the click first, and your playing second, makes it easier to hear when you drift.
Subdivisions
At slow tempos there is a lot of empty time between clicks, and it is easy to rush into the next beat. Turning on eighth notes or sixteenths fills that gap with quieter clicks, so you can place every note. Triplets help with shuffles and swing.
Accents and time signatures
The accent marks the first beat of each bar so you always know where "one" is. 3/4 is the count of a waltz; 6/8 groups six eighth notes into two beats of three, which is why it is accented on 1 and 4. For swing and backbeat grooves, try hearing the clicks as beats 2 and 4, the way a drummer's snare falls.
Finding the tempo of a song
Tap the Tap tempo button along with a recording for a few bars and the metronome sets itself to the average. Then slow it down to practise, and work back up.
Common tempo markings
Classical scores often give a tempo as an Italian word rather than a number. The ranges below are approximate; sources disagree by a few beats either way.
| Marking | Meaning | About |
|---|---|---|
| Largo | broadly, very slow | 40–60 BPM |
| Adagio | slowly | 66–76 BPM |
| Andante | at a walking pace | 76–108 BPM |
| Moderato | moderately | 108–120 BPM |
| Allegro | fast, lively | 120–156 BPM |
| Presto | very fast | 168–200 BPM |
Questions
What tempo should a beginner practise at?
Whatever tempo lets you play the passage without mistakes, even if that is 50 BPM. Raise it a little at a time from there.
