Your fav program/application for play along/learning new tunes

[dharmashawn]

Song Surgeon. It’s pricey, but DOPE!! And available around those parts if yr into that thing.........

 

[Badwater]

Youtube, search "Cifraclub Bass"

 

[Woodstockz]

What did you used to use before you started using these apps?

Not play bass.

 

[Woodstockz]

I'm old school and dirt simple rules my world. I just call up some fake chord sheet music on the song. Print that and then armed with the chord changes and lyrics I then call up a video of the song.

That's great, as long as it's in the right key. The last song I did that for, I found sheet music and chord changes in five different keys.

 

[rtav]

I use Mac OS X, so...

iRehearse - slow down/speed up w/o changing pitch, can change pitch + or - by cents (great when figuring out live stuff - made my having to learn the "Three Sides Live" version of some Genesis songs a life saver once), precisely loop sections, slow them down, change the volume.
TabView Pro - opens ptab files, shows guitar (or bass when available) with std notation and tab, ability to loop sections by measure or note or section, slow them down in midi playback, shows tab. Great with ptab files
Reflow - great for lots of reasons
Quicktime - seriously recording videos of myself playing sections helps immensely to spot problems or better ways to play something (less physical movement by making an adjustment I didn't notice I could make until I saw the playback of myself playing it).
Garageband - amazing for recording bass audio
Handbrake - Great for converting all sorts of audio/video files
Audacity - Terrific quick and dirty recorder with tons of options.
iMovie - to tie it all togther (audio + video)

I use a Scarlett Focusrite 2i2 DAW and none of it was expensive.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Ableton

 

[StephnG]

I'm old school and dirt simple rules my world. I just call up some fake chord sheet music on the song. Print that and then armed with the chord changes and lyrics I then call up a video of the song.

Listen to the song on the video to get the beat and a feel for the music then move to the fake chord sheet music for the lyrics and chord changes. I follow the lyrics under my breath to know when the changes happen. I'll make notes in the margins for rhythm pauses, fills, and things like that, but, I should mention I am not a note by note, like the original artist did it, kind of guy.

Offered as an old school dirt simple way.

After all bass lines (arpeggios etc.) just outline the chords...

 

[StephnG]

In general,
ANYTHING I wish to learn is on YouTube including most of the software mentioned i.e. "Rocksmith" etc. Some even have accurate tabs & formats you can subscribe to, I basically live on the Tube...

 

[Rlkelly]

I asked a similar question recently and got a whole whack of awesome advice here...

Struggling to practice with my iPad/phone - how do you guys do it??

That got me thinking more about the set up side of things and so I posted a poll here...

What content playback platforms/hardware are you using to practice with?

MORE good info and insight.

I've been doing a good bit of research into this whole "practice set up" issue recently.

The consensus I can see is that there is NO consensus on this topic. Shocker, I know. Everyone seems to have their own recipe for soft and hardware that let's them make progress.

The one theme I've picked up on is the universal need for the ability to manage song tempo without pitch change. Leading solutions seem to be Amazing Slow Downer, Song Surgeon, Chrome Video Speed controller extension, etc.

Note that Youtube, popular for play along tasks, DOES support speed variation in gross steps without pitch change. You can access this through the player UI or with some handy, if not-well-known keyboard shortcuts, detailed here...

Keyboard shortcuts for YouTube - YouTube Help

Many of the other practice apps also support this in various ways and to various extents.

Hope this helps...

RK

 

[MrLenny1]

YouTube works for me.

 

[Rlkelly]

Yeah - there seems to be lots of folks using Youtube. Myself included. Wish it was easier to interact with while I've got my bass in my lap though!

RK