MagicBPM

Online metronome · Free · No sign-up

120 BPM metronome.

At 120 BPM, each beat lasts half a second and four beats take two seconds. It is an easy reference tempo for counting, playing along, and trying out an arrangement.

Beats per minute

120

Press Space to start and stop · ↑ ↓ to nudge off 120 · or

Get the metronome on your phone Not sure of the tempo? Tap it →

The tempo

What 120 BPM feels like.

At 120 BPM, each beat lasts about 0.500 seconds and a bar of four beats lasts about 2.000 seconds. The click marks the beat; you can play more than one note between clicks. Tempo markings and genre examples are guides, so choose a pace that suits your music.

Marking
Allegro
120 to 156 BPM
One beat
0.500 sec
One 4/4 bar
2.000 sec
Bars in 3 min
90

Where you hear it

Music that sits at 120 BPM.

For a half-time click, set the metronome to 60 BPM: the click marks beats one and three instead of all four. If a part at 120 feels frantic, try the half-time click and play across it.

Wondering whether a particular track is 120 BPM? Tap along with it and compare, or let the MagicBPM app listen and tell you.

Practice note: Count “one and two and three and four and” with the click. Keep each “and” halfway between the beats.

Presets

Other common tempos

Every one opens the metronome set and ready to play at that BPM.

Need something in between? The full metronome covers 40 to 300 BPM.

MagicBPM for Mac, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch

Take 120 BPM with you.

The app pairs the same metronome with a real-time BPM detector that hears the music around you, so you can lift a tempo off a track and practice to it straight away.

  • Subdivisions: practice against eighths, triplets or sixteenths, with the in-between clicks tucked under the beat
  • Compound time that counts properly: 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 group in threes, and 7/8 lets you pick 2+2+3 or 3+2+2
  • Pick your click: acoustic out of the box, with woodblock, claves, cowbell and more sound packs in Pro
  • Haptics on every beat, with a firmer pulse on the downbeat
  • Keeps clicking even when your phone is silenced
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Good to know

120 BPM questions

What does 120 BPM sound like?

Two beats every second. A beat lands every 0.500 seconds, so one bar of 4/4 lasts 2.000 seconds and a three-minute song runs to about 90 bars. Press Play above to hear it.

Is 120 BPM fast or slow?

120 BPM is a fast pulse. How it feels also depends on the rhythm, subdivisions, and whether you count every beat or every other beat.

What kind of music is 120 BPM?

Pop arrangements; disco and house grooves; counting exercises. The list is a guide rather than a rule: tempo varies within every genre.

Is 120 BPM the same as 60 BPM?

Counted in half time, 120 BPM is 60 BPM, with the click marking beats one and three instead of every beat. Both counts can describe the same passage, depending on which pulse you follow.

How do I set a metronome to 120 BPM?

This page opens already set to 120 BPM, so press Play or hit the spacebar. To move off it, drag the slider, type a number into the BPM box, or use the arrow keys to nudge a beat at a time.

Measuring instead of setting? Use the tap tempo tool to find a song’s BPM.