How to Practice with a Metronome: A Guide to BPM and Tempo
A metronome is a tool that shows tempo with a steady click or flash. Tempo is measured in BPM, beats per minute. 60 BPM is one beat a second, 120 BPM is two. From the mechanical metronome Johann Maelzel patented in 1815 to the app on your phone, they all do the same job.
You start a song at rehearsal. The verse is fine, you push a little going into the chorus, and by the last chorus the guitarist can't keep up with the fast run. Nobody notices the rush, because everyone rushed together. You only hear it on the recording: the song didn't end at the tempo it started.
A metronome makes that drift obvious. But switching on the click and playing over it is just the start. Here's how we practice with one, on our own and as a band.
What is BPM, and how do you read tempo?
BPM tells you how many beats there are in a minute. In a song in 4/4, the beat is usually the quarter note. On sheet music, tempo shows up as a number next to a quarter-note symbol, like "♩ = 96".
On classical parts you'll also see Italian terms like Andante or Allegro. They describe a rough speed and feel, not an exact number. When your band talks about a song's tempo, just use BPM. Say "this one's 96" and everyone knows what you mean. If a song changes tempo halfway, write down each section's BPM separately.
How do you find a song's BPM?
- Tap tempo: Most metronome apps have a tap button. Tap along with the beat while the song plays and the app works out the BPM. Tapping for a few bars gets you closer.
- Counting: Count the beats for fifteen seconds and multiply by four. It's rough, so fine-tune with the metronome.
- In a DAW: Drop the track into something like Reaper or GarageBand, turn on the click and see if it lines up.
The tempo on the record doesn't have to be the one you play. You might want it a bit faster or slower live. What matters is that the band agrees on a number and writes it down with the song.
How do you start practicing with a metronome?
The first mistake is playing the moment the click starts. Listen for a bar, find the beat with your foot or your head, then come in. You're not playing when you hear the click, you're playing when you expect the next one. When the click disappears behind your note, you're right on it.
Set the volume so you hear it over your instrument without it taking over. Too quiet and it gets lost. Too loud and you start chasing it.
Pick what you're working on before you start, too. Playing the whole song top to bottom over and over eats time, and the hard bit stays hard. Pull out the four or eight bars that trip you up and put the click on just those. Once they're solid, play them with the bar before and after, because the mistake usually lives in the transition.
Which metronome methods actually help?
You can work on different things with the same click. These are the ones we use most:
| Method | How it works | What it builds |
|---|---|---|
| Slow to fast | Start at a tempo where you can play the passage cleanly. Once it's clean, bump it up a few BPM. | Getting fast parts clean |
| Click on 2 and 4 | Set the metronome to half the song's tempo and hear the clicks as beats 2 and 4. | The backbeat feel of pop, rock, funk and jazz |
| Gap click | The metronome plays a few bars, then goes silent for a few. You hold the tempo in the gaps. | Keeping time from the inside, not from the click |
| Subdivisions | Hear the click as eighths or sixteenths too. | Even notes in busy rhythms |
Gap click is the one that gets you ready for the stage. Most bands don't have a click in their ears at a gig, and nerves push the tempo up. If you can hold the tempo when the metronome drops out, you've got a better shot at holding it live. Start with two bars on, one bar off, and stretch the gaps as it gets easier. When the click comes back, notice whether you're ahead of it or behind. Knowing which way you drift is half the fix.
How does slow-to-fast practice work?
Take the passage you trip over at full speed and drop to a tempo where you can play it cleanly. "Cleanly" is the key word: not once by luck, but several times in a row. Then add a few BPM and do it again.
At some point you'll get stuck. Don't force it there. Drop back a few BPM and climb again. The next day, start a bit below where you finished, not at it. Your hands won't give you yesterday's top speed before they've warmed up.
The same trick works for chord changes. Pick two shapes from the guide to reading chords, switch between them at a slow tempo, then speed up.
Why put the click on 2 and 4?
In pop and rock, the snare usually lands on 2 and 4. Setting the metronome to half tempo and hearing the clicks as those two beats puts you right in the song's groove. For a song at 100 BPM, set the metronome to 50. You fill in 1 and 3 yourself.
It feels awkward at first, because your ear wants the click to be 1. Counting out loud, "one, click, three, click," gets you there faster.
How do you rehearse with a click as a band?
The whole band doesn't need to hear the click. The most common setup is the click going to the drummer's headphones. The drummer holds the tempo and everyone follows the drummer. No headphones? A small speaker playing the click to the room works too, but it gets lost as things get loud.
After running a song with the click, play it once without and record it. The closer the no-click version stays to the click tempo, the more settled the song is. If a song has a spot where you slow down or stop on purpose, it often feels more natural to drop the click there and follow the drummer's cue. If studio time is tight, doing this work at home and showing up ready saves a lot. For how to split up the studio hour, see the post on making the most of rehearsal studio time.
How should the drummer count the band in?
A count-in gives everyone the tempo and the entry point at once. The drummer counts at the song's tempo, clicking the sticks together or on the hi-hat. In 4/4 the usual ones are "one, two, one-two-three-four" or just "one, two, three, four." A song in 3/4 gets a count of three.
- Count at the song's tempo. An excited, rushed count-in speeds up the whole song.
- The drummer should have the tempo in their head, or from the click in their headphones, before counting.
- For songs that start quiet, count with light stick taps or a hand signal instead of shouting.
In BandUp, the BPM lives on the song card. The visual metronome opens in the song view and flashes the beat count at the song's BPM. It doesn't work on songs with no BPM entered, so it's a good habit to add the tempo your band agreed on to every song in the repertoire.
To order your songs by tempo so the set flows, have a look at the guide to building a setlist.