Tempo marking
PrestoThe traditional Italian marking for 176–200 BPM: very fast.Pulse · tempo · time
180 BPM Metronome
This page opens a working metronome at 180 BPM. Each click arrives every 333.3 milliseconds (0.333 seconds), which the Italian tempo scale calls Presto. Press start, then change the tempo or the time signature whenever you want — nothing here is locked.
Beats per minute
BPM
1234
Ready at 180 BPM in 4/4.
Tempo facts
How fast is 180 BPM?
A metronome set to 180 BPM plays 180 evenly spaced clicks every minute. Here is what that works out to.
Beat interval
333.3 ms60000 ÷ 180 = 333.3 milliseconds between clicks, or 0.333 seconds.Bar length
1.33 sFour beats of 4/4 at 180 BPM fill 1.33 seconds.Half and double time
90 / 360One beat per two clicks gives 90 BPM; splitting each beat in two gives 360 BPM.How 180 BPM feels
180 BPM gives a beat every third of a second. At this speed you are no longer counting beats, you are feeling groups of them, usually two or four at a time.
What to practise at 180 BPM
180 is a speed to arrive at, not to start from. Build the passage at 90 and double it: the half-tempo version gives you exactly the same subdivision relationships with time to think between them.
Where you meet 180 BPM
180 BPM is Presto territory — fast punk, speed metal and many Baroque presto finales. It is also a standard tempo for pipe-band and drum-corps writing.
Half time and double time
180 BPM in half time is 90 BPM: the same music, counted with one beat for every two clicks. Double time is 360 BPM, where every beat splits into two even eighth notes. Double time is past the 300 BPM ceiling here, so subdivide by ear instead: two even notes on every click.
This relationship is the reason a written tempo and a felt tempo often disagree. Drummers and producers move between the two constantly, and it is also the safest way to learn something fast: build it at 90 BPM, keep the same subdivisions, then double the number once the movement is automatic.