Tempo marking
AdagioThe traditional Italian marking for 66–76 BPM: slow and stately.Pulse · tempo · time
72 BPM Metronome
This page opens a working metronome at 72 BPM. Each click arrives every 833.3 milliseconds (0.833 seconds), which the Italian tempo scale calls Adagio. Press start, then change the tempo or the time signature whenever you want — nothing here is locked.
Beats per minute
BPM
1234
Ready at 72 BPM in 4/4.
Tempo facts
How fast is 72 BPM?
A metronome set to 72 BPM plays 72 evenly spaced clicks every minute. Here is what that works out to.
Beat interval
833.3 ms60000 ÷ 72 = 833.3 milliseconds between clicks, or 0.833 seconds.Bar length
3.33 sFour beats of 4/4 at 72 BPM fill 3.33 seconds.Half and double time
36 / 144One beat per two clicks gives 36 BPM; splitting each beat in two gives 144 BPM.How 72 BPM feels
72 BPM is the number quoted as a textbook resting heart rate, and each beat lasts about 833 milliseconds. It has a settled, unhurried quality without sounding heavy or laboured.
What to practise at 72 BPM
72 is worth knowing because it divides so well. Three notes per beat gives 216 triplet notes a minute, and doubling it gives 144, a common march and rock tempo. Practise a passage at 72, then at 144, and the subdivision feel transfers directly.
Where you meet 72 BPM
Adagio movements are frequently taken near 72, and it is the traditional tempo for the slow chorales used as warm-ups by wind bands and orchestras.
Half time and double time
72 BPM in half time is 36 BPM: the same music, counted with one beat for every two clicks. Double time is 144 BPM, where every beat splits into two even eighth notes. Both sit inside the 30 to 300 BPM range of this metronome, so you can switch between them and hear the difference straight away.
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 36 BPM, keep the same subdivisions, then double the number once the movement is automatic.