How it works
A drum metronome counts four on a kit: a kick on beats one and three, a snare on two and four and a hi-hat on every eighth note. All three are made in your browser.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space. The kick under the largest dot is beat one. Tap again and the kit stops.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type the tempo of the piece, 72 or 80 say, or step it with minus and plus. Any whole tempo from 1 to 500 plays.
Questions and answers
What drum beat does this metronome play?
One bar, repeated: bass drum and snare take turns on the four beats while the hi-hat halves each one. Wikipedia's Drum beat article prints this bar, its eighth notes on a ride cymbal, among its basic patterns, captioned a straight blues or rock groove.
Is this a drum loop metronome or a drum machine?
A drum loop metronome, yes: one bar of drums repeats in place of a click. A drum machine, no: one pattern, no fills, no second groove, no drum track to download. Each hit is made on its count, so the beat follows your tempo.
How is a metronome with drum sounds made without recordings?
From tones and noise. The kick is a low tone sliding from 150 down to 50 hertz. The snare is a burst of noise centred near 1,800 hertz over a short low note. The hi-hat is noise filtered to keep what lies above 7,000 hertz.
Why would a drummer use a metronome?
To hold a steady beat. Wikipedia's Click track article says a click serves as a metronome in the studio and on stage, for drummers above all, who hear it through headphones. Sometimes, it adds, only the drummer hears it and the rest follow the drummer.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
A phone's ring switch, a low volume or Bluetooth headphones holding the sound are the usual causes. The kit can be followed in silence too: the four large dots are the beats and the small ones between them the hi-hat's off-beats.