Rhythm Trainer

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Pick a drill, press Start, and tap along. The trainer shows exactly how early or late each tap lands — and which part of your timing to work on.

Tap on every beat. Measures how early or late you land and how consistent you are.
120
BPM?Tempo in beats per minute. Around 120 is a natural, comfortable starting pace. Past roughly 1.8 seconds between beats, people can no longer predict the next one and start reacting instead — so the floor of 30 (2 seconds per beat) is a deliberate stretch, meant for subdivision practice. Fill the gaps by thinking subdivisions (the Every-eighth mode or the Subdivisions drill), and the taps stay just a second apart.
Session length?How long one run lasts. Presets set it; fine-tune the exact number of bars or patterns under More options.
What you tap?The main click always sounds only the beats. Choose what you tap against it: every beat, steady eighths — every beat and every “and” — or only the offbeats between the clicks.
Subdivision?How to divide each beat: two (eighths), three (triplets), four (sixteenths), or a long-short swing feel.
Tap here (or press Space)
Tip: tap the pad or press the space bar in time.
Each mark is one tap — left of the centre line is early, right is late. The shaded zone sits on your own steady line: marks inside it are consistent taps. The edges are half a beat off (as far as possible), so the scale adapts to your tempo. ▲ shows your average.
▶More options
Beats per bar?How the clicks group — the first of each group sounds louder. 4 = ONE-two-three-four, like most songs. 3 = ONE-two-three, a waltz. 2 = a march. 6 = a rolling 6/8 feel. You still tap on every click — this only changes which one is accented.
2.0 : 1
?Plays a quiet extra click on each “and” — and on the in-between pulses of the Subdivisions drill — so you can hear what you are aiming for. Turn it off to test yourself against silent offbeats.
Device latency?Every device adds audio and input delay. Calibrate once so the early and late numbers measure your playing, not your hardware. Not calibrated
Your rhythm profile
Press Start and tap along — your timing feedback appears here after the session.
Your level over the run — the climb is the trophy.
Recent sessions
Skill profile
Solid shape = this run · dashed = your previous run.

All calculations are performed locally in your browser. No data is sent to any server.

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About This Tool

Most timing tools give you a single score. Rhythm Trainer instead separates the distinct skills that make up a good sense of rhythm, because they can improve independently: you might lock onto a click perfectly yet drift the moment it stops, or nail quarter notes but rush the offbeats. Four focused drills each target one skill — matching the beat, holding an inner pulse, placing subdivisions and swing, and copying a rhythm back by ear — so your practice goes where it actually helps.

How to Use

  1. Calibrate once — tap along with the click — so the timing feedback measures your playing, not your device's audio delay.
  2. Pick a drill (tap the beat, keep the pulse, subdivisions, or call & response) and set your tempo.
  3. Press Start and tap along. Read your rhythm profile: how early or late you land, how consistent you are, and what to work on.

Methodology

The trainer plays a steady click using look-ahead audio scheduling for rock-solid timing, then records each tap on the same clock. For every tap it computes the signed distance to the nearest expected beat: negative means you were early, positive means you were late. Because people naturally tap a few tens of milliseconds ahead of a beat, and because every device adds its own audio and input delay, a one-time calibration measures your personal offset — the median of your taps, to ignore outliers — and subtracts it, so the feedback reflects your playing rather than your hardware.

Sources: Repp (2005) · Dalla Bella et al. (2017) · Leek (2001) · Wilson et al. (2019) · Kaernbach (1991) · Wilson — Two Clocks

Understanding Your Results

Two numbers matter most: your average distance from the beat shows accuracy, and the spread of your taps shows consistency. Steadiness often matters more than being dead-on. A small early bias is normal and healthy, so the direction reading only flags rushing or dragging once you drift well past it. In the inner-pulse drill, the trainer also estimates how much of your unsteadiness comes from your internal clock versus your hands, and whether your tempo slowly speeds up or slows down.

Sources: Repp (2005) · Wing & Kristofferson (1973) · Friberg & Sundström (2002)

Practical Examples

At 120 BPM, one tap 10 ms before the beat and the next 15 ms after it average to a tiny 5 ms early bias with a tight spread — that reads as steady and on the beat. In the inner-pulse drill, if your taps stay even through four silent bars, drift is near zero; if each gap grows by a few milliseconds, you are gradually slowing down. In Call & Response, hitting five of six onsets scores about 83%, with the timing of each hit shown in milliseconds.

Tips for Better Timing

• Calibrate once on each device before trusting the millisecond numbers — a phone and a laptop have very different delays. • Chase consistency before accuracy: a steady, slightly-early tap beats an on-average-perfect but erratic one. • Practise the inner-pulse drill to build an internal clock — it is what keeps you steady when the band drops out. • Start slow. If you are clean and consistent, let the tempo climb; if you are scrambling, take it back down. • Use wired headphones or a wired speaker. Bluetooth adds a large, variable delay that calibration can only partly correct.

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Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from a metronome?
A metronome only plays the beat. Rhythm Trainer listens back: it measures how far each of your taps lands from the beat, in milliseconds, and separates the skills that make up good timing — accuracy, consistency, inner pulse, subdivision, and imitation — so you know exactly what to practise.
Why do I need to calibrate?
Every device adds its own audio and input delay, so without calibration the early and late numbers would measure your hardware instead of your playing. A quick tap-along measures your personal offset — using the median of your taps to shrug off the odd stray tap — and subtracts it. Recalibrate whenever you change device, headphones, or speakers.
It says I'm slightly early — is that bad?
No. Research on tapping shows people naturally land a few tens of milliseconds before the beat; it is called negative mean asynchrony and it is completely normal. The trainer aims for the beat itself and only flags rushing once you drift well past that healthy range.
What do the numbers mean?
The two main readouts are your average distance from the beat (accuracy) and the spread of your taps (consistency) — steadiness often matters more than being dead-on. The inner-pulse drill adds a drift reading, showing whether you speed up or slow down, plus an estimate of how much unsteadiness comes from your internal clock versus your hands.
Which drill should I start with?
Start with Tap the Beat to see your baseline, then Keep the Pulse to test your internal clock when the click drops out. Use Subdivisions to work on eighths, triplets, sixteenths, and swing, and Call & Response to train playing rhythms back by ear.
Does it work on a phone or touchscreen?
Yes. Tap the pad or press the space bar in time. Calibrate on each device, and prefer wired headphones or a wired speaker — Bluetooth adds a large, variable delay that calibration can only partly correct.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything runs in your browser. There are no recordings, no accounts, and nothing is uploaded. Your settings and your calibration offset are stored only on your own device.
How does the Flow game adjust difficulty?
Flow watches your recent success rate and steers the challenge toward about 85% — the training accuracy research finds optimal for learning. It also measures your personal timing center and scores your steadiness around it, so a device delay or natural anticipation never reads as mistakes. The game then directs practice where your data says it helps most: the skill you find hardest appears more often at a gentler dose until it catches up, while your strengths carry the challenge. Changes always land on a bar line, announced one bar ahead, and the visual helpers fade as you climb.