120 BPM Metronome

Two beats a second — the default tempo of the metronome, and of a great deal of music.

120 beats per minute 2 beats per second Marked Allegro

Is 120 BPM fast or slow?

Moderate to bright. 120 BPM is exactly two beats per second, an even, marching pulse that most people can clap accurately without a reference.

What 120 BPM is used for

• Pop, rock and dance One of the most common tempos in recorded music, and the default in a lot of production software.
• Standard exercises The tempo most method books print at the top of a page.
• Checking a metronome The clean arithmetic makes drift easy to spot — 120 beats should take exactly 60 seconds.

How to practise at 120 BPM

• Halve it, then rebuild If a passage will not hold at 120, work it at 60 and use the tempo trainer to climb back.
• Test with gap bars Four bars on, four bars off. At 120 the silence is long enough to expose a drifting pulse.

Nearby tempos

The metronome above is already set to 120. If you need a different speed, these are the closest:

• 90 Andante
• 100 Andante
• 110 Moderato
• 130 Allegro
• 140 Allegro
• 150 Allegro

Not on the list? Open the full metronome and set anything from 20 to 400 BPM, or tap the tempo if you know how it should feel but not what number it is. The tempo guide covers what the markings mean.