How it works
A 12/8 metronome like this one counts the dotted quarter note: four beats a bar, and after each beat two lighter ticks, so the twelve eighth notes fall in four groups of three. The page opens at 60.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, and listen for four loud clicks to a bar with the first one highest. Tap again to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type the beat you want, or use minus and plus. With three clicks to a beat the fastest setting is 333.
Questions and answers
How many beats are in 12/8 time?
Four. Open Music Theory names a top number of 12 compound quadruple: the twelve eighth notes are bundled in threes, and each bundle is one dotted-quarter beat. The time signature counts the small notes; the number on this pad counts the beats.
Is 12/8 the same as 4/4?
Both have four beats a bar. A 4/4 beat splits into two eighth notes and a 12/8 beat into three. Wikipedia's Time signature article names slow blues, where the bar goes by the name shuffle, and doo-wop as music often written in 12/8.
How do I set a metronome to 12/8 at 90?
Read the note in the tempo mark. If a dotted quarter note equals 90, type 90. If an eighth note equals 90, type 30, because three eighth notes make one beat here. A mark of 56 for the beat is typed as 56.
What is an example of 12/8 time?
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony has one: its second movement, the Scene by the Brook, is in 12/8. German Wikipedia's article on the symphony prints his 1817 metronome mark for it as dotted quarter note = 50, ten below the tempo this page opens on.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Start with a phone's ring switch, then the volume, then whether Bluetooth headphones are playing the click somewhere else. With no sound at all, the dots still mark every beat and tick of the bar.