8 tempo changes · reaches 120 BPM in about 1:19
Press Space to start or stop
Tempo changes on the bar line, so each step is a whole number of bars.
Stay at the target until you stop.
About This Guitar Speed Trainer
Guitar Tool Hub's free guitar speed trainer is a metronome that raises the tempo for you. Set a start BPM you can play cleanly, a target BPM, how much to change by, and how often — every few bars or every few seconds — and the click climbs step by step while you play the same lick, scale run, or riff. Tempo always changes on a bar line. If a step gets messy, hold the tempo or drop back one step without stopping. A live tempo-ramp graph shows where you have been and what is coming, and a count-in, beat accent, and 8th, triplet, or 16th subdivisions keep you locked in. It runs entirely in your browser — no download or account.
- 01Automatic tempo increase from 30–300 BPM
- 02Step every N bars or every N seconds
- 03Tempo changes land on the bar line
- 04Keep going, stop, or start over at the target
- 05Hold the tempo or nudge it slower / faster mid-session
- 06Live tempo-ramp graph and time to target
- 075 presets, from a gentle climb to 16th-note shred
- 08Count-in, beat-1 accent, and 8th / triplet / 16th subdivisions
- 09Free — no download needed
Frequently Asked Questions
A speed trainer is a metronome that speeds up automatically. You pick a start tempo, a target tempo, and how often it should step up, then play the same passage over and over while the click gradually gets faster. It replaces stopping every few minutes to nudge the metronome yourself.
Set the start tempo to a speed where you can play the lick perfectly — usually well below your goal — and the target to where you want to be. Use small steps (2–5 BPM) every 4–8 bars. Play along, and the moment the passage starts getting sloppy, press Hold or step back one notch and stay there until it is clean again.
Small steps work best: 2–5 BPM for most practice, and as little as 1–2 BPM near the edge of your ability. Big jumps of 10 BPM or more are useful for short "burst" drills, but gradual increases are what build clean, lasting speed.
Bars suit a passage with a set length — a four-bar lick gets one full pass per step if you step every 4 bars. Seconds suit open-ended drills like scale runs or chromatic exercises, where you just want a set amount of time at each tempo. In either mode the change waits for the bar line.
You choose: keep going at the target until you stop, stop automatically after one step at the target, or start over from the start tempo for another climb.
Anything short that repeats: a scale run, a lick, a chord change or a picking drill. The Alternate Picking Exercises, Pinky Exercises and Sweep Picking Exercises on this site are built for exactly this, and bass players can use it the same way with the Bass Finger Exercises. Repeat one exercise, start a little below the tempo where it stays clean and accurate, and let the trainer raise the speed a few BPM at a time.
Yes. A regular metronome plays one steady tempo until you change it. The speed trainer changes the tempo for you on a schedule, so it suits building speed. For a fixed click, use the online metronome.
Yes — completely free. No account, no download, and no payment required. It runs entirely in your browser.