Metronome
A metronome with adjustable tempo, time signature, subdivisions and tap tempo — plus how to practise with one so it actually helps.
Moderato is the narrowest word on the dial
This dial runs from 40 to 240, which is 201 whole-number settings, and names them with 7 words. They do not divide it evenly.
| Word | Range | Settings | Ratio | Beat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largo | 40–59 | 20 | 1.48× | 1500–1017 ms |
| Adagio | 60–75 | 16 | 1.25× | 1000–800 ms |
| Andante | 76–107 | 32 | 1.41× | 789–561 ms |
| Moderato | 108–119 | 12 | 1.10× | 556–504 ms |
| Allegro | 120–155 | 36 | 1.29× | 500–387 ms |
| Vivace | 156–199 | 44 | 1.28× | 385–302 ms |
| Presto | 200–240 | 41 | 1.20× | 300–250 ms |
Moderato — the word that means moderate, the one you would expect to be the default middle of everything — covers 12 settings out of 201. It is the narrowest band there is. Vivace, which most people could not place on a dial, is the widest at 44.
Counting settings flatters the slow end, though, because tempo is heard as a ratio and not as a difference. Ranked by how many times faster the top of a band is than its bottom, the order changes completely and Largo comes first at 1.48× — it holds more musical range than any other word on the list, despite covering fewer settings than three of them. Moderato stays last either way.
What a beat is worth, in milliseconds
The conversion nobody does in their head, and the reason 120 feels like a default.
| BPM | Milliseconds per beat | Word |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | 1500 | Largo |
| 60 | 1000 | Adagio |
| 80 | 750 | Andante |
| 100 | 600 | Andante |
| 120 | 500 | Allegro |
| 160 | 375 | Vivace |
| 200 | 300 | Presto |
| 240 | 250 | Presto |
120 is the one tempo where the arithmetic is free — the beat is exactly half a second — and 60 is the other, at one a second.
The whole dial spans a factor of 6, and it is not evenly split: 40 to 120 is a factor of 3, and 120 to 240 only 2. The slow half holds more musical range than the fast half, which is why the slider feels coarse down there and twitchy up top.
Ten BPM at the bottom, 40 to 50, moves the beat by 300 ms. Ten at the top, 230 to 240, moves it by 10.9 ms — 28 times less, for the same movement of the control.
How to use
- Set the tempo, or tap it in.
- Choose the time signature and any subdivision.
- Start slower than feels necessary.
- Raise the tempo only when the passage is clean.
Frequently asked questions
Why practise with a metronome at all?
Because your own sense of time drifts, and it drifts most in exactly the places that are hard — you speed up through easy passages and slow down through difficult ones without noticing. The metronome makes that visible, which is uncomfortable and the entire point.
How slow should I practise?
Slow enough to play it correctly every time. If you are making mistakes, the tempo is too fast, however tedious that feels. Practising a passage wrong at speed reinforces the error, which then has to be unlearned before it can be relearned.
How fast should I increase the tempo?
Small increments — a few beats per minute at a time — and only once the current tempo is genuinely clean over several repetitions. Jumping in large steps produces a passage that is nearly right at speed, which is much harder to fix than one built up gradually.
Should I put the click on every beat?
Not always. Once a passage is solid, moving the click to beats two and four, or to one beat per bar, forces you to keep time internally rather than leaning on it. It is considerably harder and it is what actually builds an internal pulse.
What do the traditional tempo markings mean?
Broad ranges rather than exact figures — largo very slow, andante walking pace, allegro fast, presto very fast — with substantial overlap and disagreement between sources. They describe character as much as speed, which is why the same marking is played differently in different eras.
Is a metronome bad for musicality?
Only if it is the only way you ever practise. Rigid time is a foundation, not a goal, and expressive playing involves deliberate flexibility. The usual advice is to build the ability to play strictly in time first, so that departing from it becomes a choice rather than an accident.
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