9/8 Metronome
A free online metronome in 9/8 — play it in your browser or download the click as a WAV file.
Add a section
Track
1 section · 0:29
How 9/8 works
Nine eighth notes per measure — usually a rolling compound triple (three beats of three), but famously reworked into uneven groupings.
Counting and accent groupings
Traditional: 3+3+3, the compound-triple lilt of slip jigs. The famous exception: Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk" runs 2+2+2+3, borrowed from the Turkish karşılama rhythm.
How the tempo works: this tool always reads BPM as quarter-note BPM (♩ = BPM), so with the meter set to 9/8 the beat is an eighth note and the click runs at twice the number you set. At 150 BPM that's 300 eighth notes a minute. Because the eighths group in threes, the pulse you actually feel is a dotted quarter at about 100 BPM — which is how printed music usually marks this meter: a chart that says ♩. = 100 means ♩ = 150 here. Start slower than you think you need.
Music in 9/8
- "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (2+2+2+3)
- Irish slip jigs (3+3+3)
- Compound-triple passages in classical repertoire
Practicing 9/8
The fastest route to feeling 9/8 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 2+2+2+3 in an aksak 9/8 — 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 · 12/8 metronome — or see every time signature.
Frequently asked questions
How do you count 9/8 time?
Traditionally as three beats of three — ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six-SEVEN-eight-nine — the lilt of an Irish slip jig. The aksak variant regroups the same nine eighths as 2+2+2+3.
Is 9/8 a compound meter?
Usually, yes: nine eighth notes in three dotted-quarter beats. But grouped 2+2+2+3 — the Turkish karşılama rhythm Brubeck borrowed for "Blue Rondo à la Turk" — it behaves like an odd meter instead.
What songs are in 9/8?
Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (2+2+2+3), Irish slip jigs (3+3+3), and compound-triple movements throughout classical repertoire.