Tempo Ramp Planner (Speed Trainer)

What it is for

The surest way to play a fast passage cleanly is to start slower than you need and raise the tempo in small steps once each step feels easy. Doing that by hand means stopping every few bars to change the metronome. The Tempo Ramp Planner does the arithmetic and the clicking for you: you choose a start tempo, a target, the step and how many bars each tempo lasts, and you get the plan, the total practice time and a click track that speeds up on its own.

It works in any meter, with accent groups for odd meters and subdivisions for fast notes, and it also plans ramps that slow down. The same ramp runs live in the tempo trainer of the Tonegrid metronome, and the song map it writes can be pasted into the app or the Click Track Maker.

Worked example

With the defaults — start 80 BPM, target 120, a change of 5 BPM every 4 bars in 4/4, 4 extra bars at the target and a one-bar count-in — the result says: "9 tempo stages from 80 to 120 BPM take 1:39 (41 bars with the count-in)." The stage table runs 80, 85, 90 … 120 BPM; stage 1 lasts 0:12, and the final stage at 120 BPM starts at 1:20 and lasts 8 bars (0:16) because of the extra bars.

For a 7/8 groove from 140 to 200 eighths per minute, in steps of 10 every 8 bars with groups 2+2+3 and 8 extra bars, you get 7 stages and 2:40 of practice in 65 bars.

Ramps also go down. A waltz that you want to slow from 100 to 76 BPM for careful work — step 6, every 4 bars, 3/4, 4 extra bars, no count-in, no WAV — gives 5 stages (100, 94, 88, 82, 76) in 0:51 and 24 bars, with a MIDI file only.

How to read the result

• Practice time includes the count-in; Stages and Bars count the whole ramp.
• In the Tempo stages table, Starts at is measured from the end of the count-in, so it matches the point where the first stage begins in the WAV file after the count-in bars.
• The Song map for the Tonegrid metronome lists one line per stage, for example Stage 3: 4 bars 4/4 at 90. Paste it into the Song map box in Tonegrid's Practice view or into the Click Track Maker to add gap clicks or edit single stages.
• The WAV click track is optional (untick "Render a WAV click track as well" for a faster plan-only result); the MIDI file always comes with tempo changes at every stage.

Tips and common mistakes

• The last stage is always exactly the target, even when the step does not divide the distance evenly: 60 to 92 in steps of 5 ends 85, 90, 92.
• Small steps of 2–5 BPM work better than big jumps; for more repeats raise Bars per stage.
• In 6/8, 7/8 or 12/8 the tempo counts eighth notes. Double it if you think in quarter notes.
• A ramp may have at most 200 stages and the click track at most 8 minutes; a smaller range or bigger step fixes both errors.
• Subdivisions (eighths, triplets, sixteenths) help most at slow tempos, where the gaps between beats are long.

FAQ

Should I go straight from the last stage back to the start?

That is up to you. Many teachers suggest a few repeats at the target, which is what Extra bars at the target is for, and then a slower run to lock in accuracy.

Can I use the ramp without downloading anything?

Yes. In Tonegrid's metronome, enter the same start tempo, step, bars and target in the Tempo trainer fields and press Start metronome.

Why does stage 1 start at 0:00 although there is a count-in?

Stage times are measured after the count-in, so they stay the same whether you use a count-in or not.