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Double Bass Sheet music app...

Oct 7, 2000
18,619
38,939
New York City
www.joenerve.com
Disclosures
Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
I know I'm on the other side of the TB street, but feel my question will be better answered here. (edit - we have an android tablet)

My wife is learning to play harp. She's been using pdfs and jpegs she printed out from her teacher, but wants to start using an app. Does anyone know of a simple app she'd be able to load her music into, and add notes to herself (highlight, annotate, etc.) on the music? I searched a bit but I'm overwhelmed as most apps are more like music books... I'm lost. And I'd appreciate anyone's help. Thanks.
 
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iPad + ForScore app + Apple Pencil (or similar). That’s my setup, works great. I own a 10.5 inches iPad Air - I think any iPad will do, maybe except for the Mini.
u.
Exactly my set up as well. ForScore is a great PDF reader and it also lets you create set lists, has metronome, drones etc. Not that you would need a drone for harp practice. But I use the annotation feature all day with digital stylus. I could not imagine life without it. One thing that I didn’t see mentioned is a footpedal page turner. That’s essential if you require both hands on your instrument, which is most instruments.
 
Ooops... should have mentioned its a tablet she'll be using. Thanks though.
Agree with others here, I've been using that forscore/apple pencil/ipad set up for about five years for everything I do from orchestra to duo gigs. Downside is it does not work well for outside gigs because of glare. I do go to paper for that. The Airturn Duo pedal has been flawless too. The Pageflip Butterfly pedal was not flawless for me.
 
Agree with others here, I've been using that forscore/apple pencil/ipad set up for about five years for everything I do from orchestra to duo gigs. Downside is it does not work well for outside gigs because of glare. I do go to paper for that. The Airturn Duo pedal has been flawless too. The Pageflip Butterfly pedal was not flawless for me.
What was your issue with the Butterfly? That’s what I use.
 
I know I'm on the other side of the TB street, but feel my question will be better answered here. (edit - we have an android tablet)

My wife is learning to play harp. She's been using pdfs and jpegs she printed out from her teacher, but wants to start using an app. Does anyone know of a simple app she'd be able to load her music into, and add notes to herself (highlight, annotate, etc.) on the music? I searched a bit but I'm overwhelmed as most apps are more like music books... I'm lost. And I'd appreciate anyone's help. Thanks.

MobileSheets. Super Happy and Satisfied user. Android as well as Windows version. I have not used paper since 2021 at all.

I can find any tune out of 8,000 in a second using MobileSheets Pro, but I use the Set Lists feature for my Church gig and just keep advancing. Over the course of a year it's a huge number of songs, different ones each week. I can notate, annotate, and write on my tablet to my heart's content because of Samsung's stylus is just like I was writing with a pen or pencil on paper. It is so much easier to read, and I use color to help. I use blue for navigation notes. It has a stamp feature which includes all notes and symbols too. And if a 4 pages song, I can show page 1,2,3,1,2,4 or what ever order, and use a pedal. I use the left pedal to go to the last page where the ending is if need to end quickly. I even put my practice, lessons, and woodshedding on the tablet too. You can have multiple setlists, one is for my lessons, also can sort by genre, collections, and even albums, and artists, plus more. I use "lesson" as a genre to keep track of learning, and my teachers name also to further filter if need be.

It only took one session with my tablet to realize there is no going back to paper. Getting ready each week now that I'm setup takes a minute, no filing, putting in a binder, and returning it to the big music file box. AND no miss filings either. No fixing the holes with tape because they get torn over time. My office has been paperless for years, long before Covid. I feel like an idiot I didn't do the same with my music sooner.

I have all my fakebooks scan'd in and now you can get most as pdfs. You can print a single pdf page and import or you can import the whole fakebook and use the index files to sort the songs themselves. They are available at the MobileSheets website.

Most lesson books come as pdfs, and phone can do great things at converting to pdf in a pinch.

Between lesson books and fakebooks, you can easily reach that 8,000 song total which is the bulk. My church music is about 400 songs added as we do them, and the same about 400 for music used in jams amongst friends. Maybe another 100 or so personal lesson stuff added as I go.

Getting up and running with my immediate need was quick, it took longer to load everything, and the ongoing stuff was loaded as we got to that song. You can print pages from pdf to pdf to get running quickly. You can even do multi versions for the same song with different arrangements for different bands or settings.

This software has benefited from years of professional input based on real world needs.
 
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What was your issue with the Butterfly? That’s what I use.
It would flip multiple pages at times, I tried using two different Pageflip products. I figured it was me and tried to work with the company to find out why, but they were not responsive. Still a mystery. I gave up and got the Duo and problem solved. I have read the Butterfly works well for others.
 
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Exactly my set up as well. ForScore is a great PDF reader and it also lets you create set lists, has metronome, drones etc. Not that you would need a drone for harp practice. But I use the annotation feature all day with digital stylus. I could not imagine life without it. One thing that I didn’t see mentioned is a footpedal page turner. That’s essential if you require both hands on your instrument, which is most instruments.

Of course I forgot to mention the foot pedal page turner :thumbsup: I’m not using that every time, as most of my gigs only require single page sheets with chord charts and the occasional obbligato, but when things get more complicated the pedal is super useful. I own a cheapish Donner pedal I bought on Amazon a couple of years ago, works ok, charges on USB-C. Don’t know if that is available outside of Europe, though.
u.
 
I know I'm on the other side of the TB street, but feel my question will be better answered here. (edit - we have an android tablet)

My wife is learning to play harp. She's been using pdfs and jpegs she printed out from her teacher, but wants to start using an app. Does anyone know of a simple app she'd be able to load her music into, and add notes to herself (highlight, annotate, etc.) on the music? I searched a bit but I'm overwhelmed as most apps are more like music books... I'm lost. And I'd appreciate anyone's help. Thanks.

I use an app I created back in 2010 based on my needs as a bassist that plays Jazz, Classical, Musical Theater and pretty much anything that requires reading music or interpreting chord charts.
 
I have all my fakebooks scan'd in and now you can get most as pdfs. You can print a single pdf page and import or you can import the whole fakebook and use the index files to sort the songs themselves. They are available at the MobileSheets website.

This rudimentary index capability only exists in Mobilesheets and Forscore because back in 2010 I created an app with indexes to over 80 different fake books and real books.

This software has benefited from years of professional input based on real world needs.

Mobilesheets has also benefited from my pioneering work in this area. If you visit their website you can find discussions where users are imploring the developers to provide some form of capability that exits in the app that I created.