Tap tempo: find the BPM of any song

Press TAP in the toolbar above — or the T key — four times in time with the music. The tempo appears as a number you can then practise against.

How it works

1. Find the beat first. Count along silently until you are sure which pulse you are on. Most doubled or halved readings come from tapping the wrong one.
2. Tap at least four times. The reading is averaged across your recent taps, so it steadies as you go rather than lurching after each one.
3. Read the number, then use it. The tempo stays where your tapping put it. Press play and check it against the track — if it drifts apart over eight bars, tap again.
4. Pause to start over. Leave a couple of seconds and the next tap begins a fresh measurement instead of averaging against a tempo you have already moved past.

Why tap instead of guessing

Knowing a passage should feel a certain way is not the same as knowing its number, and hunting for it with the +/− buttons wastes practice time. Tapping converts something you can already do — hear the pulse — into a tempo you can set, save, and come back to tomorrow.

It is also the quickest way to check yourself. Tap along to a recording, then play the click against it. Any drift you hear over a few bars is the gap between the tempo you think you are hearing and the one that is there.

Getting a cleaner reading

• Tap the beat you count, not the fastest thing you hear In fast music the snare or hi-hat can pull you onto a subdivision. Tap what you would conduct.
• Use one finger, consistently Alternating hands or fingers introduces its own unevenness, which the average will faithfully record.
• Keep going a little longer than feels necessary Six to eight taps costs a couple of seconds and noticeably tightens the result.
• Sanity-check against the marking The metronome names the tempo underneath the number. If a slow ballad reads Presto, you tapped double.

Questions

How many taps do I need?

Four is usually enough for a stable reading. The tempo is averaged across your recent taps, so it settles as you keep going rather than jumping around after each one.

Why does the reading change while I tap?

Because it keeps averaging. Each tap refines the estimate rather than replacing it. If the number is still moving after six or seven taps, the taps themselves are uneven — which is useful information on its own.

The BPM came out doubled or halved. What happened?

You tapped a different pulse from the one you meant. Tapping every eighth note gives twice the tempo; tapping every other beat gives half. Nothing is wrong with the reading — halve it or double it, or tap again on the beat you actually count.

How accurate is tap tempo?

It is exactly as accurate as your tapping. The averaging removes most of the scatter, but it cannot correct a consistent bias. Treat the result as a starting point, then confirm it by playing along with the click.

Can I tap with the keyboard?

Yes. Press T to tap, from anywhere on the page. Space starts and stops the metronome, and the arrow keys nudge the tempo once you have a number to adjust.

How do I stop and start a fresh measurement?

Just pause. Leaving a couple of seconds between taps ends the current measurement, so the next tap begins a new one instead of being averaged against a tempo you have moved on from.