Musician's Tools

Sep 08, 2024

Keeping Time:

These tools are great if you are secure on the rhythms and are working on developing speed.

Metronome: Obviously fairly basic. This is also useful for determining the bpm of a song (most have a “tap tempo” feature).
Drum Tracks: When the metronome drives you to the brink of insanity, this is a great alternative, and in my mind, is more realistic as I suspect you have a greater likelihood of playing with drums than someone on cowbell.
- You can find these by punching in “Drum Track 60bpm” into Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, ext. and adjust the number for the speed you are at. Some App stores also have Drum Track Apps.

These tools are meant for those who need / want to practice with the recording.

Youtube: Find your song and go to the settings buttons - Playback Speed - Normal, and adjust from normal down to 0.50x or 0.75x.
- This will reduce the speed of your song to 50% or 75% with little distortion to the actual pitch.
Boost / Backing Track: Back to Youtube, but when you search the song add the instrument + “boost” / “backing track” / “without” this will give you a unique version of the song to help hear your part better or completely remove the instrument you are playing from the track so you are not competing.
- “Sweet Child O Mine Guitar Backing Track”
- “Seven Nation Army Bass Boost”
Amazing Slow Downer (ASD): A paid for app but if you are playing for more than a year, completely worth it. You need the mp3 file downloaded onto your phone, but this app allows you to adjust the speed from 25% up to 200%, adjusting the pitch up and down to help with key changes, and setting loops to help conquer tough spots.
- Since you need the mp3’s downloaded, be careful NOT to go to YTMP3 and drop a Youtube link in efforts of obtaining the song for free that way. That is bad and I do not condone that. DON’T DO IT!
Moises: This is an app uses AI to segregate the mp3 into individual tracks: Vocals, Drums, Bass, Everything Else (Guitar / Piano). Very useful if you want to manipulate volume control. You get a certain number of freebees per month.

These tools are great if you need the specific notes written / notated out for you.

Ultimate Guitar: Truly a classic and for good reason. Available on Computers and Phones.
- If trying to save PDF and you don’t want to pay, click Print, then in your print settings that will automatically pop up, click where it usually says “PDF” and select “Save As PDF” this will automatically save the page you are attempting to print instead of actually printing it.
Songsterr: Free on Computer. Limited song selection, HOWEVER, it does play the notes with you so you can practice along.
Youtube: Back again. Type in the song followed by “tabs” or “lesson” and many people will have their personal written tabs follow along at the bottom of the screen.
- Useful for my visual learners.
- Remember to utilize the Youtube Playback Speed as needed.