How to Use the Metronome in Guitar Pro [EASY]

Guitar Pro is one of the best tools that any guitarist could have because of what it allows you to do, both as a creative device and practicing tool. As I’ve said before, however, there aren’t a terrible number of tutorials online for how to get it to work.

No worries though, I’ve got you covered. One such tool that’s very simple to use if you have proper instruction is the metronome. It’s great for practicing, and also essential for songwriting, so here’s how to do it.

To use the metronome in Guitar Pro
1) Click the Metronome icon next to the Track Number/Title
2) Open the Metronome “Count-in and Settings” by clicking on the 3 dots
3) Here, you can adjust the volume, count-in duration, and toggle
4) Click the quarter note above each staff to change the tempo

It’s super simple to run the metronome and tempo automation features in Guitar Pro. After the short tutorial above, you probably already know how to do it. In case you need help though, I made an illustrated below as well as a video, so scroll down for more.

Using the Metronome in Guitar Pro (How-To and More)

Before we dive into the text and images tutorial, here’s a brief video showing you how to set up and then use the metronome. This brief tutorial also includes the Automation Editor.

How to Use the Metronome in Guitar Pro [EASY]

1) Click the Metronome icon next to the Track Number/Title

The metronome icon is as clear as day at the top center of the Guitar Pro interface. It’s beside the name and track number. I imagine there is a keyboard shortcut for turning it on, but I haven’t figured out what it is yet.

2) Open “Count-in and Settings” by Clicking the 3 dots

Turning on the metronome is as simple as clicking on the icon. If you want to access more settings and parameters, click on the little vertical ellipses beside the main metronome icon.

3) Adjust the Count-In Duration

To adjust the count-in duration – which is the number of beats/bars before the measure starts – select a number. I typically have this at 1 bar. You can also toggle this feature on and off for in-between loops.

4) Toggle the On/Off for Metronome Between Loops

I turn this on and off sometimes depending on what I’m doing. For example, if I really want to drill something, I’ll have it off, that way it quickly goes into the first bar all over again.

In other words, after the music has finished, you can set it up so that it dives right back into the beginning, or does another count-in.

How to Change the Tempo of the Metronome in Guitar Pro

1) Click the Quarter Note Above the Measure to Open the Automation Editor

To bring up the Automation Editor click on the “Quarter Note = Number” above the staff. Surprisingly, it might take you a second to figure out precisely how to do this.

The reason is that it may select a place for where a new note would go, which obviously is not what we want. Instead, we want to bring up the Automation Editor. You’ll figure it out by trying a few times.

2) Drop An Automation Dot According to the Number of the Measure

Guitar Pro’s Automation Editor works fairly similar to GarageBand which I’ve written a guide on before on Producer Society. For this part, it’s wise to pay attention to the number of the staff whose beats-per-minute you’d like to change.

You have to pay attention to that because you want to know where the BPM change will actually take effect. Otherwise, you’ll just be shooting in the dark.

Take a look at the Automation Editor and notice how there are numbers at the start of each full grid line.

These numbers respond to what’s in the main Guitar Pro sheet music/tablature interface. Pay attention to that, and then make the changes you need.

3) Drag the Automation Dot Up (for Speed Increase) or Down (for Decrease)

Pull-on the dots – up or down – to increase or decrease the beats-per-minute according to the measure.

This feature really works great, so feel free to customize it in any way that you need to. I wish I would’ve known this earlier when I was practicing through Frank Gambale’s Chop Builder.

It probably would’ve saved me a bit of time because before, I was actually just changing the speed of the entire piece of music. Obviously, this wasn’t the most efficient way of going about it.

How to Increase the Volume of the Metronome in Guitar Pro

1) Click on the 3 Dots Next to the Metronome Icon

To turn up the volume of the metronome in Guitar Pro, click on the vertical ellipses beside the metronome icon. In the Count-in and Settings editor, slide the volume slider to the left and to the right to change the volume.

2) Drag the Metronome Volume Slider Left to Right for Volume

Drag the volume slider to the left and to the right to increase or decrease the volume of the metronome in Guitar Pro. And it’s pretty much as simple as that.

Guitar Pro is a great tool to use and I recommend getting. I wrote in my other article that you can get free alternatives, but I always ran into problems with them, so I wound up just using the OG Guitar Pro.

If you’re unsure about whether to get Guitar Pro, I would take a look at my comprehensive review which I think does a great job of really diving into many of its super useful features.

Other Articles You May Be Interested In

• How to Open Guitar Pro Files Without Guitar Pro

Important Things to Mention About the Guitar Pro Editor

1) Keyboard Shortcuts May Exist For Some Controls

I mentioned in passing earlier that there may be some keyboard shortcuts for some of these controls. I imagine, for instance, there is one for turning the metronome on and off, but I’m not aware of it at the moment.

You could probably take a look around online, or the official Guitar Pro instruction manual (from their website) may have some information for you to look at. You can download it for free from their site.