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Capo?
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22 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Start with arpeggios: first the major and minor triads, then the most common 7th chords (Maj7, min7, dom7, m7b5 [a.k.a. 1/2 diminished 7]). Learn those shapes solid. They give you an outline of the safe notes on any chord.
Learn your major and natural minor scale, not just up and down, but as a series of interlocking patterns (sometimes called the CAGED system) up and down the neck.
Learn how to harmonize the major scale, so that you understand which triads fit diatonically over each chord in the scale. Learn to do this first with triads, then learn how to do it with 7th chords.
When you come up with little runs and fills that you like, tab those out so you can practice them.
Make transcription and improvisation part of your practice. Transcription so you can learn how great bassists approach a line, and improvisation so you can learn how to invent ideas on the fly, which will make you far more musical than someone who is only playing what he memorized. Both will develop your ear. For transcription, there's good software out there to slow things down (on the Mac, Capo is the best I've found: http://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/capo/). For improvisation, get a looper pedal. The TC Electronic Ditto is an affordable option.
Schedule depends upon you, your goals, and how much time you have. If you only have 30 minutes, work on triads and scales. If you have an hour, add some improvisation to the mix. If you have two hours, add some transcription.
Though it is long overdue for an update, I explain a lot of this and more in Wheat's BassBook, which is free and online: http://wheatsbassbook.com/
If you use a program like CAPO, you can slow any song, or portion of a song down so that you learn to play every part at a speed that isn't faster than you can play well.
You should never practice faster than you can play cleanly, otherwise you memorize bad habits.
Use a metronome when practicing any scales, chords or songs, and only increase the metronome speed when you can play the scale (etc) ten times flawlessly.
Play with other people, preferably better musicians. They will help you learn and grow.
Best of luck!
One more thing, find a program that allows you to slow-down and loop sections you want to practice. That helps you nail the passages you may be struggling with getting the timing right.
Don't practice the entire solo until you can play every passage at the same tempo...whatever that tempo is. Then...increase the tempo.
I also practice every loop until I can play it at full-tempo, that way when I piece a solo together, it works.
I use a program called "CAPO" - but it's not free.
There are probably others, but I found that one years ago and it still works. Best of luck.
The Capo App (an iPhone/Mac version of the Amazing Slow Downer) has a cool feature where you can isolate a frequency (or mute it) and locate the instrument in the stereo field.
I use CAPO. It slows in 1% increments, loops, you can tab and make chords on it. I use a macbook, and I found this three years ago and have just stuck with it. It works for me.
edit: here is a link to the one I use (not affiliated in any way with this company - but I like the program) http://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/capo/
I use Transcribe - several times a day, most days - but there is no app version (I'm on desktop).
I suggest Amazing Slowdowner - or Capo if you want a more visual interface.
There are apps that claim to do that, but I wouldn't trust them unless the audio is clean, in tune, and the chords are simple enough that you could probably do it yourself - or you could if you had an app to help you listen....
If you're on laptop or desktop, I recommend Transcribe. No app version unfortunately, so if you need something for phone or tablet, there's ASD or Capo.
Notice Transcribe will attempt to identity the chord in a short selection - see box on right of screenshot - and its first suggestion is usually correct (calculated from the peaks you see on the piano keyboard, which is a frequency analysis of the waveform at that point). But the idea is to listen and check for yourself.
The closest I know is Capo on the Mac:
> Capo can slow down music without altering its pitch, transpose songs, and also isolate instruments while playing the music in your iTunes library. In addition, Capo automatically detects the chords in your songs while also mapping the beats so you can enjoy seamless looping as you practice.
Stopped torrenting music almost entirely. The only times I still do that are if I'm loading it up in Capo so I can learn to play it, or if it's not available through my streaming service (indie albums, stuff where the band split up and withdrew from streaming services, etc.)
Movies and TV are a slightly different story. I've cut down considerably, but if something isn't available through streaming or rental I'll still acquire it elsewhere. It's most notably a thing with TV shows, since a lot of them won't make their current season available to stream until the next season airs.
Here are some resources I've found helpful for Mac/iOS:
There's a great app for the Mac called Capo that does a great job helping you figure out guitar chords and licks, as well as bass lines. You can slow down the song without losing the key, you can can change the key, and you can isolate certain frequencies to better hear, say, a bass line. There are apps for Mac and iOS. I just have the Mac app. I believe it is $30. You'll have
There's also a new app from Ultimate Guitar that has a range of chord charts, tabs, and for some songs--it seems like they're still building their library-- a broken-down, track-by-track playback where you have full volume control for each vocal, instrument independently, along with the tabbed music. You can solo the guitar or bass part and play along. Not free and not yet worth the cost (though you can get a 10 day free trial)
Another option is to search YouTube until you find a video of someone covering the song you want to learn on your instrument.
And to echo what has been frequently observed, definitely use some headphones. Good luck!
> it would require the game to actually guess which string are used for which note and technique like ho/po, slide, PM would be incredibly hard to "read" by the software
This seems like the biggest hurdle to overcome with something like this. Perhaps a system where the software 'guesses' what you did and allows you to review and correct the tab that was generated, as well as fix up other issues like your timing being off or missing notes when you recorded it.
Agreed that it would be a monumental dev effort to implement something like this. There are some other music analyzing programs that might be able to do something like this (quick google search led to this), but integrating and polishing something similar into RS would be an epic project...
I use capo.
It's not free, but it works great for me. I'm sure there are others you can find as well. I've had this for about four or five years and never upgraded, and it still works great.
What do I get from tabbing out licks, solos and songs?
I learn in depth how a guitarist plays the pieces I want to learn.
If I read a tab someone else wrote, I didn't have to take any time listening to the song to work it out. Part of learning to play is developing your ear, and tabbing songs out forces you to develop your ear.
Whenever I can start with tab that's already done, I still go through the piece note-by-note to see if I think it's right. Sometimes the tab is written by pianists who don't really play guitar, and you can tell from the absurd movements they expect you to make.
Sometimes the tab is done by people with less experience, and it just isn't close.
In any regard, spending the time to take songs apart really helps you understand the structure of the piece and the guitarist's personal technique.
And, the more you learn, the better your improvising will be over time.
Great guide!
Here is a list of 156 strumming patterns: http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/strum-patterns/
Also, the music transcription program I use on my Mac is called Capo and it is very capable: http://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/capo/
I use CAPO for mac. http://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/capo/mac/
You can slow down and loop any section you want in 1% increments, and keep it at pitch, or even change the pitch if you want. I do that for Stevie Ray Vaughan songs when I don't want to tune my guitar down a half-step.
It works great, but not free. But it's not bad to pay for the things you value...right?!?
I would recommend this program (with some hesitation) called Capo:
http://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/capo/
I've felt for a long time that guitar transcription is something that could be greatly aided by computer, almost to the point where it could be nearly fully automated. We're still aways from that, but I think this program comes close.
It's not a program without it's flaws. The capacity to transcribe rhythm is still very bad. But it does help in transcribing pitches, and it's very cool to be able to just visualize the notes of the song and click to tab them right out.
Break up each piece into definable, memorable phrases, loop them at a slow speed with an app that allows you to practice it at 1% increments of speed. Take it down to 1/4 speed if you have to, and work up from there. Try to not increase the tempo by more than a five-percent speed increase, even if you think you can. Just be patient, it will pay off over the long run. Some sections will be easier than others and hence faster to learn, and vice-versa.
Don't speed the loop up until you can play the section 10 times without mistake, then move to the next fragment/lick/riff.
That helps you get the timing down. I'm on a Macbook Pro and use a program called CAPO, but there are others out there. It was just the first I found and it worked.
I also worked out the first two parts of Bodhisattva solo with tab.
I didn't get much interest from it, so I didn't do part three. Though I could probably be talked into tabbing it out.....ha ha. I've had over 700,000 views and over 2000 followers, and I never know which lick/solo or song is going to connect.
P.S. I have no affiliation with CAPO.
I tend to listen to audio books but if you are out on the open road and are into the whole "cadence thing" then pick out what ever music you want ad put it through a program like capo to match the music tempo to your cadence. So your music helps you keep in time.
Not that one specifically, but I've transcribed a few of Miles's solos. The more you do it, the faster and better you get at figuring out parts by ear, and that's really useful. It also helps to figure out how it works within the structure of the song - it reinforces all that music theory you may or may not be learning.
Also, you may want to look into some software or music players that can slow things down without changing the pitch. On the Mac and iOS I use Capo a lot - it's more geared towards guitarists, but is super-helpful at analyzing music in general.
Nope - most musicians figure out the parts by ear.
You can try something like Capo to get you in the ballpark.
Hint: Practice weird (for trumpet) scales like F#, E and B - most guitarists don't tune down a half-step to make it easier for horns.
I know I'm coming at this sideways, but if you're on a Mac, Capo is incredibly helpful for learning songs and even creating tabs of your own. I've learned some complicated finger-picking in minutes using this. It is also a beautiful visualizer to disassemble a song's structure in an intuitive way, which is an awesome way to learn.
You could use a program with a visual spectrum analizer thing like this for mac.
I used the demo and saw a pretty clear visual representation of vibrato during solos and stuff.