Metronome
A free metronome with a real swinging pendulum — every tempo from 30 to 260 BPM, tap tempo, accented beats, and a rhythm trainer that tests your inner clock.
Tap the metronome — or the button below — to start and stop.
Space starts and stops · ↑ ↓ nudge by 1 BPM · ← → by 5
How to use it
Set your tempo. Type a number, drag the slider, hit one of the quick tempos, or tap the Tap tempo button in time with the song that's in your head — it works from 30 all the way to 260 BPM. The brass weight slides to the matching mark on the scale, just like the real thing: high and slow, low and fast.
Choose your sound. Click is a dry woodblock tick, Beep is a clean tone, and Accented rings a higher note on the first beat of every bar — set the beats per bar and the accent follows. The dots under the play button show you exactly where you are in the bar.
Test your inner clock. Turn on the rhythm trainer and the metronome plays some bars, then goes silent for others while the pendulum keeps swinging — you keep playing, and the click comes back to tell you the truth. Landed right on it? Solid. Ahead of it? You rush. Behind it? You drag. Start with four bars on and two off, then stretch the silence as your inner clock firms up.
Press play — or tap the metronome itself, or hit the space bar. On a phone the screen stays awake while it's running, so it won't doze off mid-practice.
Practice tip
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Set the metronome 20 BPM below the tempo you're aiming for, and only move it up once you've played the passage cleanly three times in a row. And for groove work, try hearing the click as beats 2 and 4 — the backbeat — rather than 1 and 3. It transforms your feel overnight.
The tempo markings, decoded
The Italian words under the big number are the classical tempo markings — the same ones printed on sheet music and on the scale of every wind-up metronome since Maelzel's. Rough guide:
| Marking | BPM | The feel |
|---|---|---|
| Grave heavy, solemn | ≤ 44 | Solemn — every note a decision |
| Largo broad | 45–59 | Broad and unhurried |
| Larghetto a little broad | 60–65 | Easing forward |
| Adagio at ease | 66–75 | Slow-ballad territory |
| Andante walking | 76–107 | A comfortable stroll |
| Moderato moderate | 108–119 | The comfortable middle |
| Allegro cheerful | 120–155 | Bright and busy |
| Vivace lively | 156–175 | Properly energetic |
| Presto quick | 176–199 | Flying |
| Prestissimo extremely quick | ≥ 200 | Hold on tight |
Keep it in your pocket
The metronome installs as an app: its own icon on your home screen, full-screen with no browser around it, and — once installed — it works with no signal at all. Practice room, rehearsal cellar, festival field: it ticks.
To install: look for “Install” or “Add to Home Screen” in your browser’s menu.
Installed — look for the Metronome icon on your home screen. This tab is still the website.
You’re in the app
This is the installed metronome, not the website — it works even with no connection. Everything else, from the free lessons to Pete himself, lives at theinfinitebass.com.
Now put it to work
A metronome is only half the practice session. The other half is knowing what to play against it — and that part's free too.
Also in the free tools: the groove trainer — trade the click for a kit — and the tuner: in time deserves in tune.