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Android tablet app for tabs, notation, sheet music
- Thread starter Clark W
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Do a search for "android" in this forum. You'll see many comments.
https://www.talkbass.com/posts/28156072/
https://www.talkbass.com/posts/27367160/
etc.
https://www.talkbass.com/posts/28156072/
https://www.talkbass.com/posts/27367160/
etc.
Don't see a free version of it. But 19.99 isn't a deal breaker by any means. And with a user forum that has thousands of free charts. It's probably worth way more than the price of admission. Definitely checking this out.
That's the link for download from irealpro.com
Don't see a free version of it. But 19.99 isn't a deal breaker by any means. And with a user forum that has thousands of free charts. It's probably worth way more than the price of admission. Definitely checking this out.
That's the link for download from irealpro.com
Yeah, my bad on the price -- it's been so long since I've had it that I forgot I bought it. DEFINITELY worth it. I'm amidst a process of completing 129 charts for a new project performing in assisted living centers and nursing homes. With the accompanying Spotify playlist, band collaborators will have no excuses for learning their parts! Runs on tablet or phone, so your setlist is always with you, easy to share, instantly changes key on demand (handy with a guest singer who can't sing in "your" key). Simple to create a new chart for existing music, or use it to compose new music. It also PLAYs the chords for you in dozens of styles with tempo set on demand so you can play against changes slowly while learning and gradually boost the tempo as you learn the song. A mixer lets you switch off the bass and/or the whole rhythm section so you can hone timing skills. Can't think of a more practical learning / performance tool.
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One other tip: there's a built in user guide. But I've found one of the free generative AI systems (Perplexity.ai is my favorite) makes it simple to get instructions for a question. "How do I ____________ in iReal Pro?" provides detailed instructions with connected footnotes if you want to dive deeper. Faster than using the online forum to ask for advice.
I have used iRealPro for many years, and agree that it is a very useful tool, but it's not without its drawbacks. It doesn't show or play the melody at all, and at least in my opinion, if you don't know the melody, you don't know the tune. The chord changes on many of the charts are either "non-standard" or simply wrong, although they can be edited as you wish. The playback is very artificial and stilted-feeling.
I use it almost daily, but I'd happily use something else that had the melody notated along with the chord symbols, and had a better playback engine.
I use it almost daily, but I'd happily use something else that had the melody notated along with the chord symbols, and had a better playback engine.
You'd run into serious copyright violations if the melody was included! Agree on playback engine, although they do sell add-on style packs for $5 each if you want to get nit picky about feel. As a bass player, the main value is having the changes available at your fingertips -- and being able to change the key on the fly. If you're a jazzer, it's having the Real Books on your phone or tablet.
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I get what you're saying, and as I said earlier I agree that it's a valuable tool, but it's NOT having the Real Books (which, themselves, are really not always all that accurate in terms of chord transcription) on your phone or tablet. The Real Books have the melody, and part of creating good bass lines is taking the melody into account when choosing how to lead from one chord to another, not to mention making standard rhythmic hits on tunes like "This I Dig of You," "Firm Roots," etc.
When used as a "practice buddy" to get increasingly comfortable with tunes you've already listened to as played by the greats in the way they're usually played, or as a way to quickly refresh your memory on a gig, or a last-ditch "Hail Mary" when you're forced to play a tune on a gig that is completely unfamiliar, it's way better than nothing.
I don't know exactly how the printed/published "The New Real Book" series satisfies copyright laws, but I believe they're legit and have done so. They're also more accurate than the earlier bootleg books, although they tend to be transcriptions of particular performances rather than a distillation of overall common performance practices. If those books can be published, perhaps there is a way for an app to also legally include melodies?
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I'm not a lawyer and cannot answer this question. But iReal Pro has been available for 14 years so I would imagine this might have been addressed by now ... if it could? I do know it gets pretty dang expensive buying official scores one by one at $4 - $10 apiece!
It depends on what you are looking for.
Just chords and a bunch of online songs already written out? IReal works.
My needs are different. I play in an 18 piece big band. I read notated charts that are supplied to me. IReal won't work. I use Mobilesheets (Android and Windows), It has a reasonable license fee. It is the Android equivalent to forScore on apple devices. I scan (or take pictures) of the sheet music into PDF files and import them into Mobilesheets. I can create collections of songs, setlists, add manual annotations, program jump points for repeats and codas. With a bluetooth pedal, I can do page turns and trigger the jump points. It is wonderful for playing outdoors in the Kansas wind. No more spreading 4 pages across a music stand and trying to anchor it down with clothes pins or under a plexiglass sheet. I still carry around the almost 3 inch thick physical music folder as an emergency backup, but I haven't used it in a long time.
Just chords and a bunch of online songs already written out? IReal works.
My needs are different. I play in an 18 piece big band. I read notated charts that are supplied to me. IReal won't work. I use Mobilesheets (Android and Windows), It has a reasonable license fee. It is the Android equivalent to forScore on apple devices. I scan (or take pictures) of the sheet music into PDF files and import them into Mobilesheets. I can create collections of songs, setlists, add manual annotations, program jump points for repeats and codas. With a bluetooth pedal, I can do page turns and trigger the jump points. It is wonderful for playing outdoors in the Kansas wind. No more spreading 4 pages across a music stand and trying to anchor it down with clothes pins or under a plexiglass sheet. I still carry around the almost 3 inch thick physical music folder as an emergency backup, but I haven't used it in a long time.
