Beats per minute

160

Press Space to start and stop · ↑ ↓ to nudge off 160 · or

The tempo

What 160 BPM feels like.

At 160 BPM, each beat lasts about 0.375 seconds and a bar of four beats lasts about 1.500 seconds. The click marks the beat; you can play more than one note between clicks. Tempo markings and genre examples are guides, so choose a pace that suits your music.

Marking
Vivace
156 to 176 BPM
One beat
0.375 sec
One 4/4 bar
1.500 sec
Bars in 3 min
120

Where you hear it

Music that sits at 160 BPM.

For a half-time click, set the metronome to 80 BPM: the click marks beats one and three instead of all four. If a part at 160 feels frantic, try the half-time click and play across it.

Wondering whether a particular track is 160 BPM? Tap along with it and compare, or let the MagicBPM app listen and tell you.

Practice note: Alternate a short passage at a comfortable tempo with a brief attempt at your target speed.

Presets

Other common tempos

Every one opens the metronome set and ready to play at that BPM.

Need something in between? The full metronome covers 40 to 300 BPM.

MagicBPM for Mac, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch

Take 160 BPM with you.

The app pairs the same metronome with a real-time BPM detector that hears the music around you, so you can lift a tempo off a track and practice to it straight away.

  • Subdivisions: practice against eighths, triplets or sixteenths, with the in-between clicks tucked under the beat
  • Compound time that counts properly: 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 group in threes, and 7/8 lets you pick 2+2+3 or 3+2+2
  • Pick your click: acoustic out of the box, with woodblock, claves, cowbell and more sound packs in Pro
  • Haptics on every beat, with a firmer pulse on the downbeat
  • Keeps clicking even when your phone is silenced
Get MagicBPM, free

Good to know

160 BPM questions

What does 160 BPM sound like?

A quick pulse, with a beat every 0.375 seconds. A beat lands every 0.375 seconds, so one bar of 4/4 lasts 1.500 seconds and a three-minute song runs to about 120 bars. Press Play above to hear it.

Is 160 BPM fast or slow?

160 BPM is a fast pulse. How it feels also depends on the rhythm, subdivisions, and whether you count every beat or every other beat.

What kind of music is 160 BPM?

Punk arrangements; footwork grooves; faster picking exercises. The list is a guide rather than a rule: tempo varies within every genre.

Is 160 BPM the same as 80 BPM?

Counted in half time, 160 BPM is 80 BPM, with the click marking beats one and three instead of every beat. Both counts can describe the same passage, depending on which pulse you follow.

How do I set a metronome to 160 BPM?

This page opens already set to 160 BPM, so press Play or hit the spacebar. To move off it, drag the slider, type a number into the BPM box, or use the arrow keys to nudge a beat at a time.

Measuring instead of setting? Use the tap tempo tool to find a song’s BPM.