How to Use a Metronome (And Make It Your Friend!)

People underestimate how hard staying true to a metronome can be. In fact, slower tempos can be trickier than fast ones!

So, set a tempo like 60bpm. Listen to the click and feel it in your body. 

Then, try playing a simple scale (in our video, I play G major) and match each click with each note. It’s harder than it looks!

Now that we’ve gotten to know our metronome, let’s find our perfect practice tempo.

This is a tempo you’re already comfortable with. See if you can play without any mistakes in this tempo. If you can’t, that means you’re going too fast! And be sure to practice with your hands together. That’s the real test.

Once you can tackle one tempo perfectly, speed it up by 3-5bpm. Then get comfortable with that rhythm before moving up.

Be patient. It might feel like a slow process, but if you jump ahead and play at a tempo you’re not ready for, it can be even more frustrating. So take your time.

Sometimes, playing two notes per beat can be easier than one note per beat.

So, try playing a scale in eighth notes, which means playing two notes per click. Then, try doubling that and play sixteenth notes. That’s four notes per click.

Another fun one to try is triplets. That’s three notes per click!

If playing four notes per click is tricky, you can try the reverse: double the metronome’s tempo and play two notes per click. 

We’re all different. Some of us will feel comfier this way. So, experiment and see what feels best for you. Your preference may even change depending on the song and/or time signature!

Now let’s try applying our metronome skills to a song. Look at the time signature first. For example, if we’re looking at Christian Petzold’s “Minuet in G Major” (a classic), you’ll see the time signature is 3/4. This means there are three quarter notes per measure and a quarter note equals one beat.

Most sheet music will have a “suggested tempo” with a metronome marking in the top left corner. It’ll have a note value, an equal sign, and a number (eg. “145”). This means with every click at 145, you play one quarter note.

This will probably feel way too fast.

But don’t panic. Slow it way down to a tempo you’re comfortable with and then gradually work up to that suggested tempo.

Using a metronome for 4/4 or 3/4 is pretty straightforward, but what about a time signature like 6/8?

Let’s take “Hallelujah.” It’s in 6/8. The rhythmic feel of this song is 1-2-3, 4-5-6 with a slight emphasis on the 1 and 4. So, we’ll set our metronome so that we get a click on the 1 and the 4. A good tempo for this song is 60bpm.

Again, if this doesn’t feel fantastic, you can multiply the metronome speed to 120 and play one note per click. Then, when that feels good, go back to 60 and play with those accented beats.