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Metronome
A steady click, with the accent on the first beat of the bar.
84
Beats per minute
About this tool
A metronome is the least forgiving practice tool there is, which is exactly what makes it useful. Playing along with a click exposes the places where you speed up — almost always the easy bars — and rushing is far more common than dragging.
This one accents the first beat of the bar, so you can hear where you are in the bar rather than only that time is passing. Set the tempo and the beats per bar and it keeps them; the timing runs on the browser's audio clock rather than on page timers, which is what stops it drifting.
How to use it
- Set a tempo in beats per minute.
- Choose how many beats are in a bar, so the first one is accented.
- Start it, and play a passage slower than feels natural.
Questions
- What tempo should I practise at?
- Slow enough to play the hardest bar accurately, which is usually slower than you would like. If you can only play a passage correctly some of the time, the tempo is too high.
- Does it work without an internet connection?
- Yes. Once the page has loaded it runs entirely in your browser, and the app can be installed to a home screen.
- Why does my playing drift even with the click on?
- Usually because you are listening past it rather than to it. Try counting the accented beat aloud for a few bars until the click and the count agree.