12/8 Metronome
A free online metronome in 12/8 — play it in your browser or download the click as a WAV file.
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How 12/8 works
Twelve eighth notes felt as four big beats of three — the shuffle-blues meter. It's 4/4's soulful cousin: same four beats, but every beat swings in triplets.
Counting and accent groupings
Always 3+3+3+3. Drummers often practice it as 4/4 with triplet subdivisions — which this tool can also generate directly with the triplet subdivision on the main generator.
How the tempo works: this tool always reads BPM as quarter-note BPM (♩ = BPM), so with the meter set to 12/8 the beat is an eighth note and the click runs at twice the number you set. At 100 BPM that's 200 eighth notes a minute. Because the eighths group in threes, the pulse you actually feel is a dotted quarter at about 67 BPM — which is how printed music usually marks this meter: a chart that says ♩. = 67 means ♩ = 100 here. Start slower than you think you need.
Music in 12/8
- Slow blues shuffles in the classic Texas and Chicago styles
- 50s doo-wop and soul ballads
- Gospel and R&B slow jams
Practicing 12/8
The fastest route to feeling 12/8 is hearing the subdivisions while you count the groupings out loud. Add a subdivision with the subdivision metronome, or build a practice track that alternates a familiar meter with this one using the multi-section click track tool. One honest limitation: this free tool accents only the downbeat. To accent the actual groupings — like the 3+3+3+3 of a shuffle — Subdivide for iOS supports custom accent patterns per measure, which makes this meter dramatically clearer to practice.
Other time signatures
4/4 metronome · 3/4 metronome · 5/4 metronome · 6/8 metronome · 7/8 metronome · 9/8 metronome — or see every time signature.
Frequently asked questions
How do you count 12/8 time?
As four big beats that each split into three eighth notes — ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six-SEVEN-eight-nine-TEN-eleven-twelve. Drummers often just think of it as 4/4 with constant triplets.
Why do blues shuffles use 12/8?
Because a shuffle swings every beat in triplets, and 12/8 makes that triplet grid the meter itself. Same four beats as 4/4, but every beat rolls in threes.
How is tempo marked in 12/8?
Usually as a dotted-quarter tempo, like ♩. = 67. This tool reads quarter-note BPM, so multiply the dotted-quarter marking by 1.5 — ♩. = 67 is about 100 here.