Guitar metronome
A metronome set up for guitar practice: 80 BPM in 4/4 with eighth-note subdivisions, so the beat marks your downstrokes and the softer sub-click marks your upstrokes. Press Start or the space bar.
Andante
Space start/stop · ↑ ↓ ±1 BPM · Shift ±10 · T tap
Speed trainer
Practice timer
- 80 BPMpreset tempo
- 4/4time signature
- eighth notessubdivision
- 2.67clicks per second
Why this preset for guitar?
Eighth notes are the natural unit for a guitarist's picking hand: down on the beat, up on the "and". With the sub-click turned on you hear both halves of the motion, so a lazy upstroke or a rushed string crossing shows up straight away. 80 BPM in eighths is 2.67 notes per second, comfortable for most players to pick cleanly while still feeling like music rather than a drill.
Typical practice tempos for guitar
These are common starting points rather than rules; your comfortable tempo depends on the passage and your level. Begin at the bottom of a range and move up only when the playing is clean and relaxed.
| Material | BPM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open-chord changes, one strum per beat | 60–80 | Change on beat 1 without a gap; drop to 50 if the change is late |
| Strumming patterns in eighths (down-up) | 70–120 | Many pop, rock and folk songs sit in this range |
| Alternate picking: scales, chromatic 1-2-3-4 | 60–120 in eighths, then sixteenths | Switch to sixteenths at half the BPM to keep the same note rate |
| Fingerstyle / Travis picking | 60–100 | Thumb on every beat, fingers between the beats |
| Blues shuffle | 60–120 with 67% swing | Set eighths and move the swing slider to about 67% |
| Legato (hammer-ons and pull-offs) | 50–90 in sixteenths | Every slurred note should be as loud as the picked one |
Step-up practice plan: 60 → 100 BPM
Exercise: a scale or chromatic exercise in eighth notes, strict alternate picking. Add 4 BPM every 2 days; at this pace you reach 100 BPM on day 21, after 11 sessions. Play each tempo cleanly three times in a row before moving on. If a session is not clean, repeat the same tempo next time: the table is a ceiling, not a deadline.
| Session | Day | BPM | Notes per second (eighth notes) | Time per note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 60 | 2 | 500 ms |
| 2 | 3 | 64 | 2.13 | 469 ms |
| 3 | 5 | 68 | 2.27 | 441 ms |
| 4 | 7 | 72 | 2.4 | 417 ms |
| 5 | 9 | 76 | 2.53 | 395 ms |
| 6 | 11 | 80 | 2.67 | 375 ms |
| 7 | 13 | 84 | 2.8 | 357 ms |
| 8 | 15 | 88 | 2.93 | 341 ms |
| 9 | 17 | 92 | 3.07 | 326 ms |
| 10 | 19 | 96 | 3.2 | 313 ms |
| 11 | 21 | 100 | 3.33 | 300 ms |
Within a session, the speed trainer can warm you up to the day's tempo: for example from 51 to 64 BPM, adding 2 BPM every 4 bars, on day 3. For the method behind gradual increases, read how to build speed with a metronome.
Subdivisions for guitar
Guitarists usually talk about speed in notes per click: two (eighths), three (triplets) or four (sixteenths). Because the same speed can be reached two ways, choose the slower click with more notes per beat while you are learning. There are fewer clicks to chase, and each click marks the start of a picking group, so you can hear exactly which downstroke drifted.
Triplets are the most revealing test of alternate picking. With three notes per beat the downstroke lands on the beat in one group and on the off-beat in the next, which exposes any habit of always starting a beat with a downstroke. For strumming, keep eighths on and let your hand swing down-up continuously, touching the strings only where the pattern needs it.
Picking speed: notes per second at common tempos. The same speed can be reached with a slower click and more notes per beat — 120 BPM in eighths equals 60 BPM in sixteenths.
| BPM | Eighths (notes/s) | Triplets (notes/s) | Sixteenths (notes/s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 80 | 2.67 | 4 | 5.33 |
| 100 | 3.33 | 5 | 6.67 |
| 120 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 140 | 4.67 | 7 | 9.33 |
| 160 | 5.33 | 8 | 10.67 |
Tips for practising guitar with a metronome
- When strumming songs, click beats 1 and 3 until they show as muted, so the click sounds only on 2 and 4 where the snare would be.
- An electric guitar through an amp can bury a soft click. Try the Woodblock or Beep sound, or play through headphones.
- Practise chord changes as "strum, change": in 4/4 at 60 BPM strum only on beat 1 and use beats 2–4 to move your fingers. Then strum on 1 and 3, then on every beat.
- Record one minute of strumming against the click and listen to the upstrokes; they are usually the ones that run early.
Open the metronome at a fixed tempo: 60 BPM, 80 BPM, 100 BPM, 120 BPM. New to the click? Start with how to use a metronome, then how to practise with one.
Metronomes for other instruments
- Piano metronomeSet up for piano technique
- Drum metronomeSet up for drummers
- Violin metronomeSet up for violin practice
- Running cadence metronomeSteps per minute for runners, 150–190
FAQ
What BPM should I practise guitar at?
Start at the fastest tempo where you can play the exercise cleanly and relaxed three times in a row; for many beginners that is 60–80 BPM in eighth notes. This page starts at 80 BPM with eighth-note subdivisions. Lower it if your picking hand tenses up.
Should I use eighths or sixteenths for picking practice?
Both, at matched speeds: 120 BPM in eighths is the same number of notes per second as 60 BPM in sixteenths. Use sixteenths at the lower tempo while learning, because each click then marks the start of a four-note group.
How fast should I increase the tempo on guitar?
In small steps of 2–5 BPM, and only after clean repetitions. The plan on this page adds 4 BPM every second day and takes you from 60 to 100 BPM on day 21. The speed trainer can do a similar climb within one session.
Can I hear the metronome over an electric guitar?
Use headphones, or play the computer audio through an amp or interface, switch the sound to Woodblock or Beep and raise the volume slider. Practising on a clean channel also makes timing problems easier to hear.