Gap metronome practice
A gap metronome alternates click and silent bars. Keep playing through the silence, then listen to whether your next downbeat meets the returning click. The goal is to keep the same pulse without hearing every beat.
On this page
Start with four click bars and one silent bar
Check the setup
- Meter
- 4/4
- Tempo
- 80 BPM · quarter note beats
- Subdivisions
- Main beats
- Swing
- Straight
- Accent sound
- On
- Mode
- Gap Trainer
- Count-in
- 1 bar
- Click / silent
- 4 / 1 bars
- Rounds
- 4
Opens in a new tab. Review the settings, then press Start when ready.
- Choose a comfortable passage and a tempo at which it is already accurate.
- Listen for four bars and notice where each beat sits in your movement.
- Continue through one silent bar without speeding up or holding back.
- When the click returns, observe whether you are early, late or aligned.
- Repeat four rounds before changing anything.
Two details from the first silent bar of the linked 80 BPM routine
- Silent is part of this exercise. After the one-bar count-in, this 4/4 routine alternates four click bars and one silent bar at 80 BPM, using Main beats. Keep the pulse through the silent bar; the visual beat continues.
- Listen for the next click section. Here the click returns after one silent bar. Continue playing and notice whether you meet it early, late or together. Four rounds give three returning clicks; the final silent section ends the exercise.
Progression
When you regularly meet the returning click, try two click bars and one silent bar, then two click bars and two silent bars. Change one setting at a time. Lengthen the silence only while your playing stays relaxed and the returning click still tells you something useful.
Common mistakes
- Correcting at the last moment: keep the pulse instead of making a sharp correction before the click returns.
- Starting too fast: lower the tempo if technical tension obscures the timing.
- Repeating the same miss: if you arrive early, check whether your spacing shortened during the silent bar.
Success criterion
Listen to the three returning clicks in this four-round run. Repeat the setup until your next downbeat meets each return without a sudden correction. Then lengthen the silent section while your playing stays relaxed.
Keep the beat with off-beat clicks
Change one source of support after the present task is repeatable.
Try the next practice