Recommend a backing tracks app for iOS or Android?

[Horseflesh]

I am looking for an app that will let me pick a chord progression, key, and tempo, and it'll play a nice bland backing track with the right chords. I know there are a lot of tracks on YT but I am hoping to find an app because it isn't always convenient to be near a computer but I always have my tablet or phone.

It's also super important that the app show what chord is playing now and hopefully what's coming up next, too, so I can think about where my fingers go next.

From what I have read so far the app iReal Pro looks like it will do what I need but I would like to find more options before I buy something. Thanks if you have anything to recommend.

At 1 minute iReal Pro plays back a jam track. This is about what I am looking for --

 

[Papageno]

I highly recommend ireal pro. For a very moderate price that is an excellent and very versatile app. I use it all the time.

 

[Horseflesh]

@Papageno I just got iReal Pro onto my iPad and it is just about perfect. I'm at the stage where I am still trying to learn the fretboard, and playing the root notes as a song moves through its chord progression is so much more fun than bland exercises. If I am feeling froggy I can even try to throw in some other chord tones... this is just great. I already want to take tomorrow off work to play my bass!

 

[Papageno]

There are various things you can do with iReal Pro.
1. download chord progressions of zillions of tunes, to play them in a number of styles.
2. write your own chord charts; this is really easy and fast.

I use it a lot to experiment with harmony: because you can write and modify chord progressions as you want within a few seconds, iReal Pro is ideal to rapidly hear how a given progression sounds. Want to hear how replacing a plain G7 by a G7b5, or a G7(b9#9b13), or a Db7b5 (for example) changes the sound of a progression? Just edit the changes in iReal Pro, listen to it, play with it, and you get the answer. The possibilities and endless.

There are a few points, though, on which I would like see improvements:
1. it would be good to have access to more styles, either free or as premium add-ons.
2. it would be good to have more options for tweeking the drum, chordal (piano, guitar), and bass parts.
3. it would be nice to be able to export tracks in a format compatible for import in MuseScore, for example, if you wish to add a melody line(the midi export is no really convenient for this).
4. a desktop version (Windows, Mac) would be nice.

 

[LBS-bass]

iReal Pro is good, but the sounds are weak, especially the drums. For just dinking around at home, it's probably fine but I have gotten into the habit of downloading the midi files and bringing them into Logic, which sounds way better. Unfortunately, the drums do not map to standard midi well, so I will choose a drum pattern in the Logic editor. For jazzy stuff I have to use loops because the drum programs in Logic are quite deficient there.

I'm not aware of other apps that anyone is using for this; I'd be very interested in one with a deep repertoire like this and better sounds and/or mappable midi drum patterns.

 

[Horseflesh]

@Papageno I have to agree with all of that! It does some great stuff but it's not a home run.

@LBS-bass there is another iOS chord progression app called Suggester which I have been using. It is pretty easy to write chord progressions and unlike iReal, it helps you out by letting you pick a key and it lists the chords with Roman numerals as well as letters... handy if you don't have everything memorized. Unfortunately on playback it just mashes out the chords with no arpeggio autopilot, and there's no drum track, so it is a much poorer musical presentation than what iReal provides. It is not nearly as good for practice play-a-long. Still, it is worth a look. The free tier is generous.

(As I was researching this topic I saw several people suggesting the desktop computer app Band In A Box for all these needs but I was intent on an iOS app for various reasons.)