4/4 Metronome with Muted Bars

4/4: the most common time signature

4/4, also called common time, has four quarter-note beats per bar: ONE-two-three-four. It is the meter of most pop, rock, funk, hip-hop and dance music, and of a large share of jazz and classical repertoire. If you are unsure which time signature to pick, 4/4 is usually the right one.

The first click of each bar is higher so that you can always hear the downbeat. The four circles above show which beat you are on.

Typical tempos by style

Rough guides only, counting each quarter note. Every song is different, so trust the tempo of your own piece.

• Ballads: around 60–80 BPM.
• Hip-hop: often 80–100 BPM.
• Funk: commonly 95–115 BPM.
• Pop: mostly 100–130 BPM.
• Rock: usually 110–150 BPM.
• House and dance: typically 120–130 BPM.
• Drum and bass: roughly 165–180 BPM.

When you begin with gap click, choose a tempo lower than you would normally play at: the difficulty comes from the silence, not the speed.

What the patterns mean in a real song

Most music is built in phrases of two, four or eight bars, which is why the patterns in Pulso map naturally onto 4/4. The 4:4 pattern, four bars with click and four without, is an eight-bar phrase: you play the first half with help and the second half alone, and the click returns on the first beat of the next phrase, exactly where a new verse or chorus would start.

• 1:1 and 2:1 — gentle starts to feel what a silent bar is like.
• 2:2 and 4:1 — longer stretches that reveal slow drift.
• 4:2 and 4:4 — full phrases on your own, closest to real playing.

Follow the stages in the practice guide to move through them in a sensible order.

Exercises to try

Each link opens the metronome already set up:

1. Steady groove. 80 BPM, pattern 1:1. Play a simple groove and listen for the click landing on beat 1.
2. An eight-bar phrase. 100 BPM, pattern 4:4, beat circles hidden. Four bars with click, four alone: play a verse-length groove and check the click arrives with the new phrase.
3. Land on the one. 90 BPM, pattern 2:1. Add a short fill at the end of the silent bar and land exactly on beat 1 of the next.
4. Keep it honest. 100 BPM, random mode at 40%. You cannot predict the silence, so your pulse has to be constant.
5. Push the tempo. 80 BPM with the speed trainer, adding 5 BPM every 8 bars up to 120.

Feeling the beat inside the bar

Four beats leave room to subdivide. When a silent bar gets difficult, try counting eighth notes (“1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”) instead of only the quarter notes. For a finer grid, count sixteenths (“1 e and a, 2 e and a…”) at a slow tempo. If you play drums or another rhythm instrument, keep your snare or backbeat on 2 and 4 as an extra reference: many players find it easier to feel a bar with a clear backbeat than with four identical pulses.

Common problems in 4/4

• Speeding up into the chorus. Excitement makes the tempo climb. Practise the section change with 2:1 or 4:2 and note which way the click lands.
• Losing the “one” after a fill. Fills often run long or short. Rehearse the fill on its own with the click returning exactly on the next downbeat.
• Dragging on easy passages. When the part is simple, attention drops and the tempo sags. Long silent stretches such as 4:2 expose it.
• Rushing sixteenth-note passages. Busy playing pulls the beat forward. Slow it down and use 1:1 until the click stays with you.

Frequently asked questions