TempoPeek

Metallica · Ride the Lightning

For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls is in E major at 117.8 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

118 BPM · Moderatomedian of 137 analyses · 117.7–117.9 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
85%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
137people who ran the extractor
One beat
509.3milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
452.6Hz · +49 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.15dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.941Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.24Essentia'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

137 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 85% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 137 readings; 97% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 117.8 BPM one beat lasts 509.3 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 127.3 ms and a dotted eighth 382 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 235.6. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 452.6 Hz, which is 49 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — far enough that playing along at 440 Hz will sound wrong. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.15 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 0.941 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 E major; 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 E major

Each of these differs from E major 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 118 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42037.40.49
Half note21018.70.98
Dotted quarter1.57641.31
Quarter note (one beat)1509.31.96
Quarter triplet0.667339.62.95
Dotted eighth0.753822.62
Eighth note0.5254.73.93
Eighth triplet0.333169.85.89
Dotted sixteenth0.3751915.24
Sixteenth note0.25127.37.85
Sixteenth triplet0.16784.911.78
Thirty-second note0.12563.715.71

Half time 58.9 BPM · double time 235.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (509.3 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. For Whom the Bell TollsBee GeesE major164BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. GracelandPaul SimonE major118BPM
  2. Get Up Offa That ThingJames BrownE major118BPM
  3. 49 Bye‐ByesCrosby, Stills & NashE major118BPM
  4. Guess I’m Doing FineBeckE major117BPM
  5. Girl From Ipanema Goes to GreenlandThe B‐52sE major117BPM
  6. Winter WonderlandNeil DiamondE major117BPM
  7. Grantchester MeadowsRoger WatersE major117BPM
  8. Surprise SurpriseCéline DionE major119BPM
  9. Love BombAC/DCE major119BPM
  10. Hard as a RockAC/DCE major117BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 118 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 118 BPME major at 110–119 BPMMetallica

MusicBrainz collapses 712 recording ids into this one. Recording id 771ab043-8821-44f9-b8e0-2733c3126c6d.