Recommended Music Tools

I am not getting paid any commissions for these suggestions – they are just my favorite tools for making my practice and transcribing time as efficient as possible.

 

Practice & Transcribe Efficiently

Whether you are playing along with or transcribing music, having an app or music player that has an “A-B” function is a game changer. With Anytune, you can not only easily loop any section of a song, but you can also adjust the playback speed.  The one caveat is that you will need to have a physical MP3/MP4/Wav file to import into Anytune.  Check out “Get the Music You Need” below for a suggestion on how to acquire hard to find music files.
Check It Out Here

Practice & Transcribe Efficiently

Whether you are playing along with or transcribing music, having an app or music player that has an “A-B” function is a game changer. With Anytune, you can not only easily loop any section of a song, but you can also adjust the playback speed.  The one caveat is that you will need to have a physical MP3/MP4/Wav file to import into Anytune.  Check out “Get the Music You Need” below for a suggestion on how to acquire hard to find music files.
Check It Out Here

The Best Metronome?

There are many great metronome apps on the market, so if you are happy with yours, by all means keep using it.  My goto favorite is Pro Metronome.  I have found it to be the most intuitive and fully featured app for the money (there is also a free version).  The features I use the most on Pro Metronome and therefore recommend it to my students are the Polyrhythm programmer, the Tap button, the Rhythmic trainer, and the playlist creater.

Their website is currently down but you can read the publisher description here:

Publisher Description

Get the Music You Need

First off, I always try to purchase the music I need before resorting to the following suggestion  (this is our “hypocratic” obligation as musicians).  Occasionally however, there are songs that I can’t find, or I am unable to use the version I already own in the way I would like (particularly on Anytune).  For these songs, I use DVDFab’s YouTube to MP3 (there is a free version to try).  There are other YouTube to MP3 converters, but many can lead to computer viruses/malware  (I learned the hard way).  I have used DVDFab products for years with no malware issues.

Check It Out Here

Get the Music You Need

To be clear, I always try to purchase the music I need before resorting to the following suggestion  (this is our “hypocratic” obligation as musicians).  Occasionally however, there are songs that I can’t find, or I am unable to use the version I already own in the way I would like to (particularly on Anytune).  For these songs, I use DVDFab’s YouTube to MP3 (free version).  There are other free online converters, but many can lead to computer viruses/malware  (I learned the hard way).  I have used DVDFab for 15 years with no issues.
Check It Out Here

"A-B" Function Hack

If you want to A-B loop sections of your digital music without purchasing an app such as Anytune, there is a great free online utility called MP3 Cut.  It has a ridiculous amount of free features for editing audio files, and is super intuitive.
Check It Out Here