Tap out the BPM — or get it from any song
Hit the spacebar or the button once per beat and the tempo appears as you go. It averages your recent taps, tells you how many taps the number rests on, and starts over after a pause. When the music is a file rather than a room, upload it instead and get the tempo, key and chords together.
No tempo yet.
Nothing measured yet.
Tap the spacebar or the button in time with the beat.
Tap on the beat
Spacebar, mouse or thumb — whichever is nearer. The spacebar is captured so the page will not scroll while you tap, and the button is sized for a phone. Nothing on the page moves as the number changes.
A rolling average, not a lifetime one
Only your recent taps count towards the reading, so it follows you when you correct yourself instead of freezing after twenty taps. The spread figure shows how evenly you are tapping.
Honest about what it knows
Every reading carries its tap count, and the first few are marked as rough. A tempo from two taps is a guess, and a counter that hides that is telling you something it cannot know.
A tapped tempo is a starting point.
Tapping is the right tool when the music is in the room — a drummer counting in, a record on a monitor, a tempo you want to dial into a pedal or a DAW. It is a measurement of your hand, though, not of the track: tap along to a song with a little swing and you will land a few BPM off, and nothing about the tapping can tell you which few.
When the music is a file, the file has the answer already. Upload it and ChordSonic's pipeline reads the tempo from the audio, along with the musical key and every chord change on a play-along timeline. Same question, a source that does not depend on your timing.
Half-time and double-time are the other thing a tapper cannot settle. If you tap every other beat you will read half the tempo and the number will look perfectly confident about it — one reason the detected tempo is worth a second opinion on anything you plan to build on.
Tap tempo FAQ
How do I find the BPM by tapping?
Play the music, then tap the spacebar or the big button once per beat — on the pulse you would nod your head to. The counter measures the time between your taps and turns it into beats per minute. The reading updates on every tap, so you can watch it settle.
How many taps does it take to be accurate?
Two taps already give a number, but it is a guess: one twitchy finger moves it by twenty. Four or more taps is where it starts to be worth trusting, and eight is where it stops wandering. That is why the counter always prints how many taps the number is based on instead of showing a bare figure.
Why does the number keep moving while I tap?
It averages your most recent taps rather than every tap since you started, so it can follow you if you correct yourself. A lifetime average would freeze after twenty taps and quietly ignore everything you did after that. The spread figure underneath tells you how evenly you are tapping — the tighter it is, the more the reading is worth.
Does the spacebar work, or do I have to click?
Both. The spacebar works anywhere on the page and will not scroll it, so you can keep your eyes on the number. On a phone or tablet, tap the button — it is sized for a thumb and nothing on the page moves while you tap.
What happens if I stop tapping?
After about two and a half seconds of silence the measurement is held: the number stays on screen so you can read it, and your next tap starts a fresh measurement rather than being averaged in. Two and a half seconds between beats would be under 25 BPM, which is slower than any real tempo, so a gap that long is never part of the same count.
Can I get the BPM of a song without tapping?
Yes — upload the audio instead. ChordSonic's pipeline detects the tempo straight from the file, along with the musical key and the chord progression on a play-along timeline. Tapping is for when the music is in the room rather than in a file.
Is the tap tempo counter free?
The tapping runs entirely in your browser. No account, no upload, nothing leaves the page — the counter is just arithmetic on the gaps between your taps.
Got the tempo. Want the key and chords from any song?
Upload an MP3 or WAV and ChordSonic reads the tempo straight from the audio — plus the musical key and every chord change on a play-along timeline.
Analyze a track