Beats per minute

180

Press Space to start and stop · ↑ ↓ to nudge off 180 · or

The tempo

What 180 BPM feels like.

At 180 BPM, each beat lasts about 0.333 seconds and a bar of four beats lasts about 1.333 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
Presto
168 to 200 BPM
One beat
0.333 sec
One 4/4 bar
1.333 sec
Bars in 3 min
135

Where you hear it

Music that sits at 180 BPM.

For a half-time click, set the metronome to 90 BPM: the click marks beats one and three instead of all four. If a part at 180 feels frantic, try the half-time click and play across it.

Wondering whether a particular track is 180 BPM? Tap along with it and compare, or let the MagicBPM app listen and tell you.

Practice note: Try a click at 90 while playing at 180. Count carefully so the space between clicks stays even.

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 180 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
Get MagicBPM, free

Good to know

180 BPM questions

What does 180 BPM sound like?

Three beats every second. A beat lands every 0.333 seconds, so one bar of 4/4 lasts 1.333 seconds and a three-minute song runs to about 135 bars. Press Play above to hear it.

Is 180 BPM fast or slow?

180 BPM is a very 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 180 BPM?

Punk arrangements; fast jazz passages; half-time counting practice. The list is a guide rather than a rule: tempo varies within every genre.

Is 180 BPM the same as 90 BPM?

Counted in half time, 180 BPM is 90 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 180 BPM?

This page opens already set to 180 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.