software for practicing

[Jason Sypher]

I've got a mac and I wonder if there are ways I can use it to help me practice. I just saw Edgar practicing with his computer and it got me thinking. One thing I'd like to work on is bowing and intonation. Any thoughts?

[Chris Fitzgerald]

For intonation, you can program tune heads into Garageband and then play along with them, speeding them up as you go along. For difficult passages, you can (assuming you have the chops on keyboard) create little loopable "play-along passages" which can speed up as you get more proficient. You can also use GB to create drones for scale study, and grooves for practicing...well, grooving.

[Ed Fuqua]

Aren't there some programs out there that are basically piano accompaniment to legit pieces? There's gotta be a way to also program harmony to practice long tones or scale work too, right?

[christ andronis]

I've been buying the Abersold books (the different ones with the standards) and flopping the CD tracks over into Sonar. That way I can record along with the bass-less track and hear how pathetic my playing really is....in the hopes of getting better. The drawbacks are not being able to vary tempii or keys but I'm learning alot of tunes I should know anyway. There's also a Bill Evans book that he (Abersold) has out which really kicks my a**. Great fun though, and lots to learn.

[hdiddy]

I did Band-in-the-Box for several years now and tired of it. Tired of the same rinky dink sound. I only use it mainly for banging out changes of a new song but I'm learning how to do that myself with a keyboard and a looper which is insanely better. These days I only use it with WinAmp to do transcriptions in real time.

[gp_bass]

i've been using a boss rc20 loop pedal to practice soloing over loops, rhythmic studies, and just to listen back. the pedal's good, but limited in what it can do.

i've also been thinking about what software might help my practice routine. i use Garage Band a lot to compose, so i like the idea of using it for other things.

does anyone know of a simple loop recording / quantizing, etc software that could work with a stomp pedal as a trigger?

[chris dammann]

a program called Transcribe! is my favorite pratice tool. you can change keys, tempo without effecting the sound too much. I also use logic as a metronome often, so i can have the click go off once every two or four bars.

[warnergt]

Here is something you can do. If you want to learn a new
tune, Google for the tune name and "MIDI'. This will help
you find a MIDI file of the tune.

Open a new project in Garageband and drag the MIDI file
into it. It will import the file and separate out all of the
instruments. You can mute the bass track and play
along with all the other instruments. You can even
view the score for the bass track.

If you like this and want to take it to the next level,
you can purchase Logic Express (the big brother to
Garageband) for $199. This program does everything
Garageband does and more. It supports tablature.
You can view the score with the tablature while
playing along with all the instruments. It's a
powerful practice tool. I'm using it every day.