Bill Withers · Just As I Am
Grandma’s Hands
Grandma’s Hands is in A minor at 82.4 beats per minute.
Tempo
82 BPM · Andantemedian of 130 analyses · 82.3–82.5 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 95%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 130people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 728.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 4.29dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.937Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.32Essentia's danceability, 0–3
Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.
What the numbers say
130 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 95% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 130 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 82.4 BPM one beat lasts 728.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 182 ms and a dotted eighth 546.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 41.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 164.8. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.29 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.937 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.
10 other recordings here are in A minor; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.
Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Keys that fit with A minor
Each of these differs from A minor by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.
Delay times at 82 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2912.6 | 0.34 |
| Half note | 2 | 1456.3 | 0.69 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 1092.2 | 0.92 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 728.2 | 1.37 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 485.4 | 2.06 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 546.1 | 1.83 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 364.1 | 2.75 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 242.7 | 4.12 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 273.1 | 3.66 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 182 | 5.49 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 121.4 | 8.24 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 91 | 10.99 |
Half time 41.2 BPM · double time 164.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (728.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Boogie ManAerosmithA minor82BPM
- [White Blur 2]Aphex TwinA minor83BPM
- Sound Check (Gravity)GorillazA minor82BPM
- Brown SugarD’AngeloA minor83BPM
- Little OneBeckA minor83BPM
- Andy WarholDavid BowieA minor84BPM
- EverlovingMobyA minor84BPM
- The OneFoo FightersA minor81BPM
- November Has ComeGorillaz featuring MF DOOMA minor84BPM
- Big PoppaThe Notorious B.I.G.A minor85BPM
Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 82 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A minorAll songs at 82 BPMA minor at 80–89 BPMBill Withers
MusicBrainz collapses 4 recording ids into this one. Recording id 1ed5d688-5468-4028-b8b2-cd1bab2dbbf0.