Free tap tempo BPM counter

What is tap tempo?

Tap tempo finds a song's speed from your own timing: tap once on every beat and the time between the taps gives the tempo in beats per minute (BPM). Drum machines, delay pedals and recording software have a tap tempo button for the same reason: it's quicker to feel a tempo than to guess a number.

How to find the BPM of a song

• Play the song and tap on the beat, the pulse you'd nod your head or count "1, 2, 3, 4" to.
• Keep going for eight taps or more. The tempo is the average of your last twelve, so it steadies as you tap.
• Tap the beat you'd count in. Tapping every other beat gives half the tempo, and tapping the off-beats too gives double.
• Pause to start again. Two seconds without a tap and the next one begins a fresh count.

Typical tempos

Ballads tend to sit around 60 to 80 BPM, most pop and rock between 100 and 130, house music around 120 to 128, and punk and drum and bass well above 160. Songs drift live, so the tempo you count in at is worth writing down.

Tempos on the setlist

A band copy with each song's tempo means the count-in is right, and the drummer isn't guessing at the start of every song. Build your sets in the free setlist maker, tap each song's tempo here and save it to the song, then print the band copy. GigPenguin sends each player their own gig sheet and shows you who's in.