Online Metronome

How to Use the Free Online Metronome

The Play Like A Pro Metronome is a free online metronome built for guitarists and musicians who want to improve their timing, rhythm and tempo control.

Set your tempo in BPM (beats per minute), use Tap Tempo to match the speed of a song, choose a time signature and add subdivisions such as eighth notes, triplets or sixteenth notes.

You can use it as a simple metronome for everyday practice or turn on the advanced training features to gradually build speed and test your internal sense of time.

Set Your Tempo in BPM

BPM stands for beats per minute and tells you how fast the metronome will click.

A setting of 60 BPM gives you one beat every second. Increase the BPM and the pulse becomes faster.

Use the tempo slider to choose your speed or use the −5 BPM and +5 BPM controls to increase or decrease the tempo in small, practical steps.

When learning a difficult guitar part, start at a tempo where you can play it cleanly and comfortably rather than immediately attempting full speed.

How to Use Tap Tempo

If you don't know the BPM of a song, use the Tap Tempo button.

Tap the button repeatedly in time with the music and the metronome will calculate the average tempo from your taps.

This is particularly useful when learning a song by ear, working from a recording or trying to find a comfortable practice tempo before slowing the part down.

Press Start and Play With the Click

Press Start Metronome and begin by lining up your notes, chords or strums with the main pulse.

Don't think of the metronome as something playing in the background. Listen to it actively and try to make your playing sit directly with the click.

Choose a Time Signature

The time signature controls how the beats are grouped into bars.

Choose the time signature that matches the music you're practising.

The visual beat indicators help you see where you are in the bar, while the accent controls allow you to emphasise the beats that matter.

Practise With Metronome Subdivisions

A normal metronome gives you the main beat. Subdivisions divide that beat into smaller, evenly spaced pulses.

They can make it much easier to practise rhythms accurately because you hear exactly where notes should sit between the main beats.

Use a Metronome Count-In

Turn on a 1-bar or 2-bar count-in when you want a clear tempo reference before your exercise begins.

This gives you time to hear and feel the pulse before starting to play, which is particularly useful for technical exercises, recording practice or passages that begin immediately on beat one.

Customise Beat Accents

Beat accents let you make selected beats of the bar stand out from the normal metronome click.

In 4/4 you might accent beat one to clearly hear the beginning of each bar, or experiment with different accents to practise unusual rhythmic emphasis.

You can also switch all accents off if you want every beat to sound equal.

Use the Auto Speed Trainer

The Auto Speed Trainer is designed for exercises, riffs and difficult passages that you want to gradually bring up to full tempo.

Choose a starting BPM, your target BPM and how many bars you want to play before the speed increases.

The tempo increases automatically by 5 BPM after your chosen number of bars until the target speed is reached.

Improve Your Timing With Silent Bars

The Timing Trainer goes beyond normal metronome practice by deliberately removing the click for complete bars.

Your job is to continue playing at the same tempo while the metronome is silent.

When the click returns, you'll immediately hear whether you stayed in time, rushed ahead or slowed down.

Start with 3 bars on / 1 bar silent. Once that feels comfortable, progress towards longer silent sections.

This shifts the responsibility for keeping time away from the metronome and back onto you.

How to Practise Guitar With a Metronome

A metronome isn't only for practising scales faster. You can use it for almost any area of guitar playing where consistency and timing matter.

The important part is choosing a tempo where you can perform the movement correctly and then increasing the difficulty gradually.

How to Build Guitar Speed Without Losing Accuracy

Rather than repeatedly attempting a passage at a tempo you can't control, use the metronome to create a gradual progression.

If the passage starts falling apart, that's useful information. Drop the tempo slightly, clean it up and continue from there.