How it works
Metronome 8th notes arrive in pairs here: a full click on each quarter-note beat and a quieter tick halfway to the next. The number counts the beats, so 80 gives 160 eighth notes a minute.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space. The large dots are the beats and the small ones the eighth notes between them. Tap again to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type the quarter-note tempo of your piece, 70 or 109 say, or step it with minus and plus. Any whole tempo from 1 to 500 plays.
Questions and answers
What does eighth note = 140 mean on a metronome?
The mark counts eighth notes, 140 of them a minute. Two eighth notes fill one quarter note, so type half the figure, 70, and all 140 sound with every second one louder. A mark of 170 becomes 85 the same way.
How are eighth notes counted with a metronome?
One and two and. Open Music Theory's chapter on simple meter numbers each beat and calls the second eighth note of a beat "and", noting that other counting systems exist. The quiet tick is that "and": the half beat of a metronome with half beats.
What is a 1/8 note on a metronome?
An eighth note: one eighth as long as a whole note and half as long as a quarter note, by Wikipedia's Eighth note article, which also gives its British name, the quaver. A 1/8 note metronome such as this one sounds every one of them.
Can it click eighth notes in 3/4 or in 6/8?
In 3/4, yes: no bar is marked, so the pairs fit any bar counted in quarter notes. 6/8 differs. Its beat is a dotted quarter note that holds three eighth notes, says Open Music Theory's chapter on compound meter, and the 6/8 page clicks those.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Start with the phone: its ring switch, its volume, and any Bluetooth headphones that may be holding the sound. The four dots keep time without it, a large one for each beat and a small one for the eighth note after it.