Tap BPM: tap along to find the tempo.
Tap the pad, the space bar or any key in time with the music. The tempo is worked out from every tap at once, to a tenth of a BPM, with a plus-or-minus that shrinks the longer you keep going. A double tap or a missed beat is ignored instead of throwing the count, and a pause starts a new one.
Tap along to a song from your computer
drop a song
It plays here for you to tap along to, and its measured tempo is shown beside yours.
At a glance
| Tap with | The pad (mouse or touch), the space bar or any key; Esc starts again |
|---|---|
| Tempo from | A line fitted through every tap, not the average of the gaps |
| Shows | BPM to a tenth, its plus-or-minus, the tap count, half and double time |
| Handles | Off-beat and double taps (ignored), a skipped beat (absorbed), a pause (new count) |
| Measured | Within 0.5 BPM after 8 taps in 92% of runs with ±15 ms of human jitter, and in all of them after 16 |
How to tap a tempo
Start the music, listen for a bar to find the pulse, then tap along on the pad or any key. Most people tap the beat they would nod or clap to. After two taps you get a first number, after eight it settles to within a beat per minute, and the plus-or-minus under the number tells you when to stop: once it reads ± 0.1 or 0.2, more taps will not change the answer. If you lose the beat, just carry on. A tap that lands far off the beat is ignored, and a skipped beat is accounted for. Stop for a few seconds and the next tap starts a fresh count, so you can go straight on to the next song.
A drum and bass track can be heard at 174 or 87, and trap at 140 or 70, so the half and double readings are always shown. Both describe the same music. DJs and producers usually quote the faster one; for a slow ballad, the one you tapped is probably the one you mean.
Why this tapper is steadier
Most tap counters take the gaps between your taps and average them. Averaging gaps sounds fair, but it cancels out: the sum of the gaps is just the time from the first tap to the last, so the answer depends only on those two, and their timing errors go straight into it. This page fits a straight line through the time of every tap against its count, the way you would fit a trend line in a spreadsheet, and the tempo is its slope. Every tap pulls on the answer, and the scatter around the line gives the plus-or-minus.
The check behind this page simulates a thousand people tapping at 120 BPM with up to 15 ms of random error per tap, roughly how far a careful person's taps wander. After 8 taps, the fitted line is within 0.5 BPM in 92% of runs, against 88% for the averaged gaps; after 16 it is within 0.5 BPM every time. The timing comes from each key or touch event's own timestamp, the moment the browser received it, rather than the moment the page got round to it, so a busy page does not add error. Through real key presses in Chrome, sixteen taps half a second apart read 120 BPM to within one.
Tapping or measuring
Tapping is the right tool when you can hear the song but do not have the file: on the radio, in a shop, on a streaming app, or when you want the tempo a band actually plays rather than a recording's. When you do have the file, the BPM finder measures it directly, to about a fifth of a BPM on music with a clear beat. To compare the two, open "Tap along to a song" and drop a file: it plays here while you tap, and its measured tempo appears beside yours. When you have the number, the metronome button opens the metronome at exactly that tempo, for practising a part at the speed of the record. Pioneer CDJs, Serato and Ableton Live all have a tap-tempo button for the same job; this one works on any phone or computer with nothing installed.
FAQ
How do I find the BPM of a song by tapping?
Play the song and tap the pad, the space bar or any key on each beat. The BPM appears after two taps and settles within a few more; when the plus-or-minus under it is down to a few tenths, you have it.
How many times should I tap?
Eight taps gets within half a BPM most of the time; sixteen nearly always does. The plus-or-minus shows how sure the reading is.
What if I miss a beat or tap twice?
A tap far off the beat is ignored and a skipped beat is accounted for, so the count carries on. If you stop for a few seconds, the next tap starts a new count.
Why does it show half and double time?
Because the same music can be counted at either speed: drum and bass is 174 or 87, trap 140 or 70. Both are right; use whichever matches how you count it.
Can I tap on my phone?
Yes. Tap the big pad with a finger; it responds to the touch itself, with no delay.
Is there a way to measure the BPM without tapping?
Yes. If you have the file, the BPM finder measures the tempo from the audio directly.