20–400 BPM, any time signature, five accent levels, subdivisions, swing, count-in, speed and gap trainers.
120 BPM means 120 beats every minute: one beat every 0.5 seconds (500 ms), or 2 beats a second. In classical terms it is Allegro, fast and bright (120–155 BPM).
You often hear tempos around 120 BPM in dance pop, disco, house and marches. The metronome above is already set to 120 BPM in 4/4: press Start, and change the time signature, accents, subdivisions or sound if your song needs it.
| Note | Length | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Whole note (one bar of 4/4) | 2000 ms | 30 |
| Half note | 1000 ms | 60 |
| Dotted quarter | 750 ms | 80 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 500 ms | 120 |
| Dotted eighth | 375 ms | 160 |
| Eighth note | 250 ms | 240 |
| Eighth-note triplet | 167 ms | 360 |
| Sixteenth note | 125 ms | 480 |
Set a delay pedal to 375 ms for the popular dotted-eighth echo, or 500 ms for a quarter-note echo, and it sits in time at 120 BPM.
120 BPM is fast. Rather than starting here, use the speed trainer: begin around 90 BPM (three quarters of the target) and add 4 BPM every 4 bars until you reach 120. Sixteenth notes at this tempo are 8 notes a second.
One beat every 0.5 seconds (500 ms), 2 beats a second. Its Italian tempo marking is Allegro, fast and bright.
Tempos around 120 BPM are common in dance pop, disco, house and marches.
In 4/4 a bar has four beats, so it lasts 2 seconds. In 3/4 it lasts 1.5 seconds.
It is a performance tempo for most players. Work up to it with the speed trainer, starting around 90 BPM.