Tempo & Rhythm Guide
Short, practical guides on using a metronome, tempo markings, BPM charts, time signatures and timing problems.
- How to use a metronomeOpened a metronome for the first time and unsure what to do? How to pick the right BPM, find the beat and actually play along, step by step.
- Tempo markings and their BPM rangesHow fast are Largo, Adagio, Andante, Allegro and Presto? The BPM ranges behind Italian tempo markings and what they really tell a performer.
- Typical BPM ranges by genreHouse at 128, hip-hop at 90, drum and bass at 174 — typical BPM ranges for popular genres and what to watch for when choosing a tempo.
- How to find the BPM of a songThree ways to find the tempo of music that's playing: a mic-based tempo analyser, tap tempo and counting by hand — and when each one is most accurate.
- What time signatures actually meanWhat the top and bottom numbers mean, why 3/4 and 6/8 aren't the same, and how to count odd meters — explained with examples.
- Taking a hard passage from slow to fastThe proven way to bring a difficult passage up to tempo: choosing the starting BPM, the size of each increase, and when to drop back down.
- Practising with subdivisions and accentsEighth and triplet subdivisions, accent patterns and thinning out the click — advanced metronome techniques that tighten your timing.
- Why can't I stay with the metronome?Why you keep speeding up or falling behind, what actually causes rushing and dragging, and the exercises that fix your timing.