How it works
A 9/8 metronome that counts the dotted quarter note, as this one does, has three beats a bar, each split into three eighth notes. It opens at 55 beats, which is 165 eighth notes a minute.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space. Nine clicks make a bar: three loud, six light, the first highest. Tap again to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type a new beat, or nudge it with minus and plus. The click changes on the next beat.
Questions and answers
How do you count 9/8 time?
In three. Open Music Theory counts a compound bar one la li, two la li, three la li: nine eighth notes heard as three dotted-quarter beats. The three loud clicks here are the numbers, and the light ones are la and li.
What is the difference between 9/8 and 3/4?
Both have three beats a bar. In 3/4 the beat is a quarter note that splits into two eighth notes; in 9/8 it is a dotted quarter that splits into three. Open Music Theory calls them simple triple and compound triple.
What music is in 9/8 time?
Slip jigs, mainly: Wikipedia's table of common time signatures says the bar otherwise occurs rarely. The same article describes a jazz piece in 9/8 whose bar runs two, two, two, three. This page clicks three groups of three and no other pattern.
How do I set a 9/8 metronome to 135?
If the mark is dotted quarter note = 135, type 135. If the 135 counts eighth notes, type 45, since three eighth notes make one beat on this page. Any whole tempo from 1 to 333 plays.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Check a phone's ring switch first, then the volume, then whether the sound has gone to Bluetooth headphones. The dots step through the bar with or without sound, so the beat can be read off the pad.