I'm going to go over some quick and easy ways to find the tempo or BPM of a song. If you are unfamiliar with the term BPM, it stands for beats per minute. Finding the BPM of any song is an excellent skill to have and can be quite useful for you to learn.
How to Find BPM of Any Song
Finding the beat in music is much easier for some of us and more challenging for others. However, with practice, I assure you, anyone can do it.
A beat is the basic unit of rhythm, it's that underlying steady pulse that you detect in a song. If you can tap your foot along with it, that's the beat!
The best way to get good at finding the beat is to listen to music and tap to it. Try listening to one of your favorite songs without any distractions. Then put on some headphones while turning up the bass, and try to focus on the lower instruments like bass and drums. In most styles of music, it's easier to discern the beat in that part of the music.
Now clap your hands, tap your foot, or bob your head along to the pulse or beat. You are looking for a steady pulse that goes with the song. This will get easier for you over time. Be sure to pick a simple song to start with, and practice this every day. Try it out with several songs and don't worry, you will get better!
Tap for Tempo
To find the actual tempo or BPM of a song we are going to type it into a BPM calculator. If you have never used one before, then check out the link for yourself and try the following methods.
1st feel the beat of your chosen song. Bob your head or tap your foot to the song. Then tap the beat you found into the calculator with either your mouse or the space bar on your computer. The BPM Calculator can measure the bpm of a song by you tapping along with the beat on the tap button of the page. Try different styles of music to see different BPMs for each one.
There are also apps for your phone to measure the BPM. It is available for either Android or Apple phones if you don't have a computer. Another method is to use a metronome and keep adjusting it manually until it matches the beat.
Tempo Tap Metronome
There are some metronomes that you can tap the beat into the metronome. Figure out the pulse of the song you want to play, tap that into the metronome, and then practice along with that exact BPM.
If all else fails, go to Get Song BPM - type in name of a popular song, and that website will give you the song's bpm. For example, if you search for the ever-legendary song, Hotel California, and choose the Eagle's version, you will find that the bpm of this song is 75. You can do this with almost any song you can think of. I have not found a song that this website couldn't find the BPM for.
It's good to get used to what the tempo of different songs feels like, and useful for both practicing and for composing your own music.
If you would like to learn more about BPM, I have another video that explains more listed below.
Still struggling with understanding BPM in Music? Then check out the link below!