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Free tools / BPM Tap Counter

BPM Tap Counter

Tap the big button (or your spacebar) in time with any song and read off its tempo in beats per minute.

// BPM counter — tap along with the beat
Tap at least twice — 8+ taps gives a steady reading.

Pause for a couple of seconds and the next tap starts a fresh count.

What BPM actually means

Beats per minute counts the steady pulse under the music — the thing your foot taps. 60 BPM is one beat per second; 120 BPM is two. Most songs keep one tempo from start to finish, which is why tapping along for a few bars is enough to name it.

Why guitarists care

Practicing to a click at a known tempo is the fastest way to clean up your playing: find the song's BPM here, then set the metronome 20–30 BPM slower and work back up. The Finger Gym drills use the same idea with an animated tab.

// There's more

Found the tempo? Set it on the free online metronome — time signatures, per-beat accents and a visual pendulum — and practice at exactly that speed.

Open the metronome

Frequently asked

How do I find the BPM of a song?

Tap along with the beat — the pulse you'd nod your head to — for at least 8 taps. The counter measures the time between taps and converts it to beats per minute. More taps = steadier reading.

What BPM is considered slow, medium or fast?

Roughly: ballads sit at 60–80 BPM, mid-tempo pop and rock at 90–120, dance music at 120–130, punk and metal at 160+. The classical names run Largo (slow) → Andante (walking) → Moderato → Allegro (fast) → Presto (very fast).

Why does my reading jump around?

Two-tap readings are noisy — a 20 ms wobble changes the number a lot. Keep tapping: the counter averages your recent taps, so by 8–12 taps it settles onto the real tempo.

What if the song changes tempo?

Stop for two seconds and start tapping again — the counter starts a fresh measurement automatically. It also uses a rolling window of your last 12 taps, so it follows gradual tempo drift.

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