Metronome by Time Signature
A free online metronome for each common meter — simple, compound, and odd. Every page explains how the beats group and lets you download the click as a WAV.
- 4/4Simple
A strong ONE with a secondary accent on three — or, in most popular styles, the backbeat: snare cracking on two and four while the downbeat anchors the bar.
- 3/4Simple
Nearly always felt as one group of three.
- 5/4Odd meter
Usually 3+2 (ONE-two-three-FOUR-five) or 2+3 (ONE-two-THREE-four-five).
- 6/8Compound
Always 3+3 (ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six).
- 7/8Odd meter
2+2+3, 3+2+2, or 2+3+2.
- 9/8Compound
Traditional: 3+3+3, the compound-triple lilt of slip jigs.
- 12/8Compound
Always 3+3+3+3.
Simple, compound, and odd meters
In a simple meter like 3/4, each beat divides in two. In a compound meter like 6/8 or 12/8, the beats group in threes — 6/8 is two beats of three, not six equal beats, which is why it lilts. In an odd (or asymmetric) meter like 5/4 or 7/8, the groups are uneven, so the bar limps in a way you feel rather than count.
Tempo here is always quarter-note BPM (♩ = BPM), so in an x/8 meter the beat is an eighth note and the click runs at twice the number you set. Printed music usually marks compound meters with a dotted-quarter tempo instead — each meter page shows the conversion. Need a specific speed instead of a specific meter? Start from a tempo, or build your own on the click track generator.