Any software recommendations for learning songs?

slawler

Does anyone use any software for learning songs which can loop or slow down songs?

I have used ‘Capo’ before a few years ago but recall someone mentioning software now that strips out certain parts of songs so you can use them as a backing track to play along with just the guitar.

drofluf

I use Amazing Slowdowner which does what you’d expect I’m on an iPhone but I’m not sure about other platforms. 

PAL

Train your ears to hear what's gong on. You can slow down any YouTube Video !

digitalkettle

Transcribe! is the standard app

MentalSharps

Rocksmith is by a long long way the most comprehensive song learning software tool. You can slow down sections of songs, and get visual feedback on the notes you don't play correctly (which it determines by detecting the pitch of your guitar through your interface). The official charts (tabs) are really well transcribed by the Ubisoft employees, and you can download tens of thousands of custom user made ones too - to play along with the original recording.

You can set it to speed up every time you play the section correctly by X%, or only after you play it correctly X number of times.

ie a good way to build muscle memory is to Drop the speed low, to 10% speed, and have it increase 10% everytime you hit 100%. Then when you start missing notes, change it to increase by 5%, after completing the section 3 or 5 times with 100% accuracy.

Less useful overall but can be useful sometimes - You can also drop the complexity of the tab by percentages, so it has less notes, but helps you get used to moving position or hitting the core notes, and then increase them gradually.

If you don't want to hear the original guitar and you're prepared to do a little research/work to learn how to use a 3rd party app, you can create custom song files using a backing track of the song along with the tab. There are others you can download made by other people.

Or if it is a song that stems (individual instrument tracks) are available for on the web, then you can create a custom chart with just the guitar as audio, if you wanted, or, you could make a backing track using the original artist's tracks minus the guitar.

There's lots of other little useful features too. Great bang for buck, even more if you pick it up cheap when it's on sale!

If you go for the Rocksmith+ version (might be a monthly subscription) you can use traditional guitar tab view.

Although, if learning songs as quickly and easily as possible is the goal, worth learning the 3D tab which becomes really easy to sight read

hollywoodrox

drofluf said:

I use Amazing Slowdowner which does what you’d expect I’m on an iPhone but I’m not sure about other platforms. 

I use it on Mac  ,had it about 7 years it’s brilliant 

this for looping YouTube https://www.dkthehuman.com/slowtube/

fastonebaz

I just watch covers on YouTube and learn it from those.   Also sometimes use Songsterr app

neilg

This site lets you loop youtube video's

https://www.looper.tube/?v=3dm_5qWWDV8&s=0&e=227&spd=1

slawler

Wasn’t there some software linked that can remove certain parts of songs so it leaves just the drums etc? 

hollywoodrox

 Moises AI will split songs into tracks ive used it a few times ,web based 

digitalkettle

slawler said:

Wasn’t there some software linked that can remove certain parts of songs so it leaves just the drums etc? 

I remember someone bought it...was it a DJ-focused piece of software?

Ultimately, nothing will do a perfect job isolating components of a full mix...good enough to learn from, not good enough to use as a backing track.

allen

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/210131/neat-transcription-software-for-mac/p1

guitarjack66

slawler said:

Wasn’t there some software linked that can remove certain parts of songs so it leaves just the drums etc? 

Ultimate Guitar gives you the option to remove certain instruments from the song. It also helps you slow them down too.

wddonalds

https://www.lalal.ai/ Can create stem tracks with various instruments removed. Not ideal but can help in isolating certain things. You can then load it into Transcribe etc to slow things down. 

PAL

Yes they are called ears and they are free ! Train your ears it will pay off .Like anything else a little difficult at first but worth it.

TheBigDipper

I've been using AnyTune for a few years now. Does all the usual audio stuff and it's easy to drive. Good enough for me, anyway. 

WeZ84

The latest version of guitar pro lets you import audio files then you can slow it down and transcribe it as you go. 

axisus

digitalkettle said:

Transcribe! is the standard app

100% agree. It's cheap and excellent. 

Roland

PAL said:

Train your ears to hear what's gong on. You can slow down any YouTube Video !

These two are a good combination. The advantage of video is that, with the right clip, you can see the original artist’s fingering. This can prevent you replaying everything in your favourite fretboard positions. You can also see how the artists actually plays it live, rather than the cut and paste of different studio takes which happen on a lot of album tracks.

I can’t over emphasise the importance of trading your ears. It’s not just the notes played. There is the use of FX, eg choice of Wah range and Q, pickup, and fret position to get a particular sound. There are also all the slides, slurs, vibrato and other mannerisms which go to make a performance. Whenever I hear another guitar player it’s not the notes played, but the way they are played, which tells me how good they are.