Exact to a tenth of a BPM
The tapper fits a line through every tap since your last pause, so one late tap barely moves the result. The ± value next to the tempo shows how close the reading is.
BPM Tapper: Tap the Tempo of Any Song
Tap along to any song and this free BPM tapper measures its tempo, down to a tenth of a BPM.
Find the BPM in three steps
No setup and no signup. The tapper is ready as soon as the page has loaded.
- 01
Play the song
Start the track on your phone, in another tab or on a record player. Listen for the beat you would nod your head to, usually the kick and the snare.
- 02
Tap along
Tap the yellow button, the space bar or T on every beat. After two taps you see a tempo; keep tapping for ten or more beats until the reading says steady.
- 03
Use the tempo
Switch to half or double time if the number feels off, read the delay times for each note value, then check the tempo in the metronome or start a beat at it.
A BPM counter that shows how sure it is
Most tap tools average a few taps and guess. This one tells you how exact the reading is.
Tap with anything
Use the big button, the space bar or T on a keyboard, or a finger on a touchscreen. Taps count on touch, not on release, so the timing matches your hand.
Half and double time
Tapped every other beat on a trap or drum and bass track? One click halves or doubles the result without losing your measurement. H and D do the same on a keyboard.
Delay times in milliseconds
Below the reading you get the length of seven note values at your tempo, from whole notes to sixteenths, dotted eighths and triplets, ready for delay, reverb and compressor settings.
How the BPM tapper measures tempo
BPM means beats per minute. To count it by hand you would tap along for a full minute and count. A tap tempo tool does the same in a few seconds: it measures the time between your taps and turns it into beats per minute. One beat every half second is 120 BPM, one beat every second is 60 BPM.
Simple tappers average the last few gaps between taps, which makes the number jump around with every slightly early or late tap. This BPM tapper keeps every tap since your last pause and fits a straight line through them. The slope of that line is the length of one beat. The longer you tap, the more the small errors of your hand cancel out, and the tempo settles to within a fraction of a BPM.
The value after the ± sign is the standard error of that fit: how far the true tempo could plausibly be from your reading. The bars under the number show each of your recent taps, above the line when a beat came late and below when it came early. Stop tapping for two seconds and the next tap starts a new measurement, so you can move straight on to the next song.
Tips for an accurate BPM count
Tap the beat you would clap or nod to, not the fastest sound in the song. In most pop, rock, hip hop and electronic music that is the kick drum on beats 1 and 3 and the snare on beats 2 and 4. Hi-hats often play twice or four times as fast, and following them gives you double or quadruple the tempo.
Start tapping after the intro, once the drums are in, and keep going for at least ten beats. Tap with one finger from the wrist, like a drummer, rather than with your whole arm. If the reading says your tapping is uneven, do not restart: keep tapping, and the fit will average the mistakes away.
Tempo is a matter of feel as well as numbers. A trap beat at 140 BPM sounds like 70, and a drum and bass track at 174 BPM is often felt at 87. Both readings describe the same song. Use the half and double time buttons to switch between them, and pick the one that matches the software or the person you are sharing the tempo with.
BPM to ms: delay times for common tempos
Producers look up a song's BPM to time effects to the beat. A delay set to an eighth note repeats exactly in the groove, and a reverb or compressor release that fits the tempo breathes with the track instead of smearing it. The formula is 60,000 divided by the BPM for one quarter note in milliseconds; halve it for eighths and halve it again for sixteenths.
The tapper lists these values for whatever tempo you tap. For the most common tempos, here they are at a glance. A dotted eighth is three quarters of a beat, and an eighth triplet is a third of a beat.
| Tempo | Quarter note | Eighth note | Sixteenth note | One bar of 4/4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 BPM | 1000 ms | 500 ms | 250 ms | 4 s |
| 70 BPM | 857.1 ms | 428.6 ms | 214.3 ms | 3.43 s |
| 80 BPM | 750 ms | 375 ms | 187.5 ms | 3 s |
| 90 BPM | 666.7 ms | 333.3 ms | 166.7 ms | 2.67 s |
| 100 BPM | 600 ms | 300 ms | 150 ms | 2.4 s |
| 110 BPM | 545.5 ms | 272.7 ms | 136.4 ms | 2.18 s |
| 120 BPM | 500 ms | 250 ms | 125 ms | 2 s |
| 128 BPM | 468.8 ms | 234.4 ms | 117.2 ms | 1.88 s |
| 140 BPM | 428.6 ms | 214.3 ms | 107.1 ms | 1.71 s |
| 150 BPM | 400 ms | 200 ms | 100 ms | 1.6 s |
| 160 BPM | 375 ms | 187.5 ms | 93.8 ms | 1.5 s |
| 174 BPM | 344.8 ms | 172.4 ms | 86.2 ms | 1.38 s |
Typical tempos and what to do with yours
Ballads and lo-fi sit between 60 and 80 BPM. Hip hop and R&B usually run from 80 to 100 BPM, and boom bap often around 90. Pop and rock cover a wide range around 100 to 130 BPM, house sits at 120 to 128, and techno a little higher. Trap is written at 130 to 150 BPM but felt at half that speed, and drum and bass runs from about 170 BPM upward.
Once you know the tempo, put it to work. The metronome button opens our online metronome at exactly that BPM to practise along. The beat maker button opens the studio with a boom bap drum groove already playing at your tempo, so you can add bass, chords and a melody, record vocals over it or remix the idea with friends in real time. The studio runs from 60 to 160 BPM, so faster tempos arrive at half time with the same pulse.
For music teachers
Feel the pulse together, then make music with it
Put the tapper on the classroom screen, play a song and let students take turns tapping the beat: the bars show the whole class how steady the pulse is. When your class is ready to make its own music, Make a Beat gives you a whole classroom. Students join with a code and their name, no email addresses, and you set assignments, listen to what they hand in and grade it. GDPR, FERPA and COPPA ready, servers in Germany, and every school licence starts with a free trial.
Questions about the BPM tapper
How do I find the BPM of a song by tapping?
Play the song and tap the big button, the space bar or T on every beat. After two taps the tapper shows a tempo, and every further tap makes it more exact. Tap on the kick and snare rather than the hi-hat, and keep going for ten or more beats for a reading you can trust.
How many taps do I need for an accurate BPM?
Four taps give a usable reading, and ten to twenty taps give a tempo accurate to within about one BPM. The number after the ± sign shows how sure the measurement is: it shrinks as you keep tapping steadily. When it drops below 0.5, rounding to the whole BPM is safe.
Why does the tapper show half or double the real tempo?
You tapped every other beat, or every eighth note, which reads as half or twice the real tempo. This happens a lot with trap, drum and bass and slow ballads. Choose "Half" or "Double" above the tapper instead of tapping again: the measurement stays, only the count changes.
What does the ± number next to the BPM mean?
It is the statistical uncertainty of your reading in BPM. The tapper fits a straight line through all your taps, and the ± value shows how far the true tempo could plausibly lie from the result. Even tapping makes it small, uneven tapping keeps it large, and more taps always shrink it.
How do I convert BPM to milliseconds?
Divide 60,000 by the BPM to get one beat, a quarter note, in milliseconds. At 120 BPM a quarter note lasts 500 ms, an eighth note 250 ms and a sixteenth 125 ms. The tapper does this for you and lists seven note values, including dotted eighths and triplets, for delay and reverb settings.
What is the slowest and fastest tempo I can tap?
The tapper measures from 30 BPM up to as fast as you can tap evenly. A pause of two seconds starts a new measurement, which sets the lower limit. For very fast songs, tap on every second beat, which is far easier to keep steady, and choose "Double" to read the real tempo.
Does the BPM tapper work on my phone?
Yes, in any current mobile browser, with no app to install. The tap button reacts the moment your finger touches the screen rather than when you lift it, so tapping on a phone is as precise as tapping on a keyboard. Play the song on another device or through headphones.
Is the BPM tapper free?
Yes. The BPM tapper is completely free, with no account, no download and no limit on how often you use it. Nothing you tap leaves your browser. When you have the tempo, the beat maker button opens a free studio session with a drum groove already playing at that BPM.
Make a beat at the tempo you just tapped
Open the beat maker with a drum groove already running at your BPM, then add bass, chords and melody in your browser.