A Metronome for Any YouTube Song

The YouTube Metronome, at a Glance

Riffloop puts a metronome on the YouTube video itself. You set the tempo by number, by tapping or by detecting it from the song, choose whether you hear the song with it, and add a one- or two-bar count-in. On Pro, the click locks to the song's own tracked beats.

• ▶️ Works on the video you have open — no download, no second tab
• 🎚️ Tempo 40–240 BPM, with Tap and Detect
• ⏱️ Count-in of 1 or 2 bars: the song waits at your loop start
• 🔇 Click only mutes the song so you hear just the metronome
• 🔒 Song-locked click (Pro): clicks on the record's beats, accents on its real bar lines
• 🐢 The locked click follows the song when you slow it down

How to Add a Click to a YouTube Video

Open the video with the Riffloop extension, mark the section you're practicing, get the tempo, choose how you want to hear it, and start the click. The whole set-up is six steps and takes about a minute.

1. Add the extension and open the video. Install Riffloop for Chrome or Edge and open the song on YouTube. The panel appears under the player.
2. Mark the section. Put the loop's start on a downbeat — the "one" of a bar — and its end where the phrase finishes. A start on the beat is what makes a count-in land.
3. Get the tempo. Separate the section and press Detect, which reads the tempo from the loop's drums. Or press Tap on each beat. Or step the number with − and +.
4. Choose how you hear it. With track to play along with the record; Click only to mute the song and hear the bare metronome.
5. Add a count-in. Pick 1 bar or 2 bars. The song holds at the loop start while the click counts you in, then the track comes in.
6. Start the click and play. Press Click. On a separated loop, one press detects the tempo and starts clicking; when the song's beat grid is ready and the BPM matches, the click locks onto the song's beats (Pro).

You don't have to separate anything to get a plain click: before you split a section, open the click settings, set or tap a tempo and press Start. Separating is what gives you Detect and the lock — and it also gives you six stems, so a drummer can take the drums out and play to the click and the band.

A worked example: a four-bar fill at 128 BPM

Say the fill into the last chorus is four bars long and the song runs at 128 BPM. Set the loop from the downbeat of the bar before the fill to the downbeat after it — six bars — so you practise the landing, not just the fill. Separate it, turn the drum stem down, press Click, and set a two-bar count-in. Drop the speed to 75%: the locked click slows with it to 96 BPM; a free-running click needs 96 typed in. When you land beat one with the click three times in a row, go to 80% (about 102), and so on to full speed. Then switch the click off and play the same six bars with the band.

Privacy: the click is generated in your browser, and separating the section runs on your own computer — the song's audio isn't uploaded to Riffloop.

The Metronome Controls

The Click button lives in the Speed row under the video; its settings hold six controls — Tempo, Tap, Detect, Sound, Count-in and Volume — plus Start and Stop. Beat one of each bar is a higher click so you always know where the bar starts.

Tap starts a fresh count if you pause for more than two seconds, so you can re-tap a section without resetting anything. For a dedicated tapper with half and double buttons, use the tap tempo tool.

Free-Running Click vs a Click Locked to the Song

A free-running click plays an even grid at one tempo from the moment it starts; a song-locked click plays on the beats the recording actually has. On a song played to a click track they sound the same. On a band recorded live, only the locked click stays with the record all the way through.

Most records made without a click move: a chorus pushes a couple of BPM, a bridge settles back. An even metronome set to the song's average tempo is right on average and wrong in places — after a minute you hear it flamming against the snare and can't tell whether it's you or the record. A locked click doesn't have that problem, because there is no grid of its own: every click is a beat found in the song.

• 🎯 Locked — clicks on the song's tracked beats, accents on its real downbeats, follows the slow-down. The hint reads "In time with the song". Pro.
• 📏 Free-running — an even click at the BPM you set, accent every fourth beat. Free. Best for exercises, for songs recorded to a click, and for deliberately practicing at your own tempo.
• 🔓 Switching — when the beat grid is ready, the lock engages at the song's BPM; step the tempo up or down and the click is free-running again. That is the way out on purpose.

A Metronome on a Slowed-Down Song

A song-locked click slows down with the song: at 70% speed it clicks at 70% of the tempo, on the same beats. A free-running click doesn't know you changed the speed, so set it yourself — the song's BPM times the speed.

Riffloop slows the song with the pitch held, so the riff stays in the key you'll play it in; see slowing a song down without changing pitch. For the full routine — how far to drop, how to climb back to tempo, when to switch the click off — read how to practice with a metronome.

When the Click and the Song Disagree

If the click and the record don't line up, it is almost always one of four things: the tempo is double or half, the click started off the beat, the song's tempo moves, or the song isn't in four. Each has a quick fix.

1. Twice as fast or half as fast? The beat can be counted at two levels — a 70 BPM ballad can feel like 140 in its hi-hats. Pick the one you'd tap your foot to and halve or double the number. The key and BPM finder explains the half-time trap in detail.
2. Right speed, wrong place? A free-running click starts where you press it. Move the loop start onto a downbeat and use a count-in, so the click and the song set off together.
3. In time, then out, then in? The band is drifting. Use the song-locked click, or loop a shorter section where the tempo holds.
4. The accent is in the wrong place? The free-running click accents every fourth beat. In 3/4, 6/8 or 5/4, the locked click follows the song's own bar lines; in the Studio, set the time signature.
5. No beat at all? A rubato intro, a held chord or a spoken bridge has no pulse to follow. Practice those by ear and put the click on the parts with a groove.

A Click on Files, Links and Phones

The same idea works in the Riffloop Studio for files, YouTube links and SoundCloud links, and in the iPhone and Android apps for songs you add or record on the phone. In both, the click is free for the first 30 seconds of a song and Pro plays it through the whole song; in the Studio, locking the click to the song's beats is also Pro.

• 🖥️ Studio: the metronome is its own lane in the mix, with a volume fader and a solo button. Set the time signature (4/4, 3/4, 6/8 or 5/4) to place the accents, and click every other beat, every beat, or twice per beat (0.5×, 1×, 2×). Open it at studio.riffloop.app.
• 📱 iPhone and Android: add a file or record the song playing on your phone, separate it, and click along with a metronome locked to the song's beat.
• 🎧 Spotify or Apple Music: on a computer, open the same song on YouTube; on a phone, play it and record it in the app.

Who Uses a Metronome on a YouTube Song

Anyone learning a song from a video who wants to know whether they're in time with it — drummers taking the kit out, bassists locking to the kick, guitarists drilling a fast riff, and singers who come in late after an intro.

• 🥁 Drummers: mute the drum stem, keep the click and the band, and play the part. The click tells you if you rush the fill; the band tells you if it grooves.
• 🎸 Bassists: solo the bass and drums with the click on, then drop the bass and play it yourself.
• ⚡ Guitarists: loop the solo at 70% with the locked click, add 5% each time it's clean. See figuring out a guitar solo by ear.
• 🎤 Singers: a two-bar count-in before the verse makes the entry after a long intro easy to find.
• 🎹 Teachers: set a loop and a count-in once, and a student can repeat the passage at a steady tempo without counting them in each time.

Common Mistakes With a Click on a Song

The usual problems are a click started off the beat, a click too quiet to hear under drums, a free-running click left at full tempo on a slowed song, and trusting a click on a song that moves.

1. Starting the loop mid-bar. The count-in leads into wherever the loop starts. Start it on beat one.
2. Burying the click. If you can't hear it over the drums, it isn't helping. Raise the click's volume, or turn the drum stem down.
3. Slowing the song but not the click. A free-running click stays at its BPM. Multiply by the speed, or use the locked click.
4. Fighting a live record with an even click. If the click is right in the verse and early in the chorus, the band sped up. Lock to the song or loop a shorter part.
5. Never turning it off. The click is a check, not a crutch; finish with the record on its own.

Other Ways to Get a Click on a YouTube Song

You can run a metronome app beside the video, open a metronome video in another tab, or use an extension that adds a click to the video. The first two are free and work anywhere, but neither starts with your loop or follows the song.

Other extensions do this too. Pre-Count, a YouTube loop practice extension, says on its Chrome Web Store listing that it plays a count-in before the video and before each loop repeat, detects a song's BPM and start point, and keeps its metronome synced when you change the speed, which runs from 1% to 400% (listing read October 18, 2026, version 3.1.1). Its count-in on every repeat is something Riffloop's doesn't do. Riffloop's angle is the click that rides the song's own beats, alongside six stems and the chords. A plain metronome app is still the best tool for scales and exercises with no record.

YouTube Metronome — FAQ

What players ask before putting a click on a YouTube song: free or Pro, slowed songs, count-ins, drift, odd meters, phones and files.

If You Remember Four Things

• 1 Start the loop on beat one and use a count-in — that's what makes the click and the song set off together.
• 2 A free-running click stays at its BPM; on a slowed song, set it to the song's tempo times the speed.
• 3 On a band recorded without a click, only a click locked to the song stays in time all the way through.
• 4 If it's twice or half as fast, the number isn't wrong — you're counting a different level of the beat.

Keep Going With Riffloop