Journal
How to Choose a Metronome (2026)
Almost every "best metronome" article is a list of products with the same conclusion. This one is not, because the honest answer is that there is no best metronome — there are four different kinds of device, they suit different instruments and different practice rooms, and picking the wrong kind is the only real way to waste money here.
This was rewritten in August 2026. The version it replaces recommended the Korg TM-50 and the MA-1, both of which have since been discontinued and replaced.
First: do you need a device at all?
If you practise at a desk with a phone within reach, a free metronome app will keep time as accurately as anything on this page. The arguments for a physical device are real but specific:
- It does not interrupt you with a notification.
- It is loud enough to hear over a drum kit, a brass instrument or a piano, which a phone speaker is not.
- It teaches a beginner a habit that a phone, which is also a source of distraction, tends not to.
If none of those apply to you, an app is a perfectly serious answer and you can stop reading.
The four kinds
Mechanical (wind-up)
A pendulum and a clockwork escapement, no battery. The pyramid on top of the piano.
The case for one is not nostalgia. A swinging pendulum is a visual beat you catch in peripheral vision while reading music, which a flashing LED does not achieve nearly as well, and there is nothing to charge or lose. The case against: the volume is not adjustable, it must sit level or it will not keep time, and it does not do subdivisions, odd time signatures or tuning.
Current examples: Wittner's Taktell range, which has been in production for decades and is what most teachers mean when they say "a proper metronome". Wittner also make models with a bell that marks the downbeat.
Digital desk and pocket units
Battery-powered, a dial or buttons, a speaker and usually a tuner as well. This is the default purchase for most players.
The combination units are the useful ones — a tuner and a metronome in a pocket-sized box covers everything a wind, brass or string player needs to take to a rehearsal. Look for a microphone and a jack input if you play a quiet instrument, and for subdivision settings if you are past the beginner stage, because practising quavers against a crotchet click is where a metronome starts to earn its keep.
Current examples: Korg's TM-60 combines a tuner and metronome and is the direct successor to the TM-50 that older articles still recommend; the MA-2 is the metronome-only version; the KDM-3 is a louder desk unit built for a practice room rather than a case.
Clip-on
Clips to a headstock or a bell. Almost all of these are primarily tuners with a metronome bolted on, and the metronome is usually visual only or very quiet.
Buy one as a tuner. If the metronome matters to you, buy something else.
Wearable
The genuinely new category since these articles were last written. A wearable metronome straps to the wrist or ankle and delivers the beat as a vibration rather than a sound.
That solves a problem nothing else does: a drummer, or anyone playing loud, cannot hear a click, and a click bleeding into a microphone ruins a recording. Feeling the beat also works better than hearing it for some players, particularly for internalising tempo rather than chasing it.
Current examples: Soundbrenner's range — the Core 2 and the Pulse — are the established products in this category.
Professional practice units
A step beyond a metronome: drum patterns, MIDI sync, a headphone output, an input so you can hear yourself over the click. Worth it if you are recording, playing to a click live, or working seriously on rhythmic independence.
Current example: the Boss DB-90, still in the range and still the reference point for this category after nearly two decades.
Choosing, in one table
| If you | Buy | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Practise piano at home | Mechanical, or a loud desk unit | A visual beat you can catch while reading, and no charging |
| Play a wind, brass or string instrument | Pocket tuner/metronome combo | You need both in your case anyway |
| Play drums or anything loud | Wearable | You will not hear a click, and you will feel a vibration |
| Record, or play to a click live | Professional practice unit | Headphone out, MIDI sync, patterns rather than beeps |
| Are teaching a beginner | Whatever your teacher uses | Consistency is worth more than features |
What actually matters when you use it
More practice time is wasted by using a metronome badly than by owning the wrong one.
- Start slower than feels reasonable. If you cannot play a passage perfectly at half speed, speeding it up only rehearses the mistake.
- Put the click on beats 2 and 4 rather than every beat once you are comfortable. It stops you leaning on it and starts you keeping time yourself.
- Practise dropping it. Play four bars with the click and four without, and listen for whether you are still with it when it returns. That is the skill; matching a click that never stops is not.
Once you have one, the repertoire is the point. Studies and exercises are indexed under piano, guitar and every other instrument we cover.