Strum Machine - Backing Tracks 4+

For bluegrass, fiddling, etc‪.‬

Luke Abbott LLC

Designed for iPad

    • 4.8 • 80 Ratings
    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Screenshots

Description

Elevate your music practice with customizable backing tracks generated with audio from real instruments (guitar, mandolin, and standup bass).

Strum Machine can play any chord progression, in any key, at any speed. It's the only backing-track app built specifically for players of bluegrass, old-time, fiddle tunes, and other such genres. (Although it works pretty good for some jazz/swing now, too!)

Why musicians of all levels love Strum Machine:

• Realistic Sound: Backing tracks are assembled in real time from studio-quality instrument recordings.
• Quick Adjustments: Instantly adjust the speed/tempo, change the key, loop part of a song, etc.
• Auto-Speedup: Gradually increase the BPM at the end of every repetition for training purposes.
• Chord Reference: Clean, beautiful chord charts, which can be displayed in letters or numbers (i.e. "1-4-5").
• Extensive Library: Over 1,400 songs (mostly from bluegrass and old-time) ready to go, with thousands more posted on the community forum.
• Simple Song Editor: Add your own songs (or edit existing ones) in minutes. Almost every chord you can play on a guitar is available for use.
• Customize the Band: Choose from a variety of built-in band styles, then optionally customize each instrument individually – adjust the strumming pattern, add automatic bass runs, and more.
• Organize & Share: Create song lists for practicing or even performing, and share them with your friends or on the community forum.
• Cross-Platform: Sync your custom songs, lists, and preferences with any device you use Strum Machine on: phone, tablet, or computer. (It works offline, too!)
• Responsive Support: If you run into any problems or have questions, write us an email or post a message on the forum and someone will get back to you within a few days!

Strum Machine is under active development and we're always working on ways to make the app even more useful to our users... while keeping it uncluttered and intuitive first and foremost.

Discover how Strum Machine can improve your music practice today, for free!

Download Strum Machine and play a handful of demo songs instantly, without signing up. For the full experience, including access to all built-in songs and the ability to create your own, start a free trial.

Terms of Use: https://strummachine.com/terms
Privacy Policy: https://strummachine.com/privacy

Audio powered by the FMOD Engine, © Firelight Technologies Pty Ltd.

What’s New

Version 1.399.0

Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the app to immediately close upon opening, if it had not been used for awhile.

For more information on past updates to Strum Machine, open the app and then go to the top-left menu > About / Version History.

Ratings and Reviews

4.8 out of 5
80 Ratings

80 Ratings

Jason O'D ,

The BEST practice aid ever!!!

The customizable features of strum machine are amazing! For musicians at ever level, this app was clearly designed by a musician to help other musicians develop in all the essential ways. The preloaded songs are awesome! But, so is the ability to change them, change keys, add my own songs, and change speeds. Every musician knows there are those tricky phrases and this app let's you conveniently highlight those and practice them over and over, at whatever speed you need to get them into muscle memory. I also love the auto- speed up feature with settable top speed to practice playing faster at a settable bpm rate (I usually increase by 2 bpm) which is a fantastic way to develop skill! I also like being able to set which backup instruments are playing. I am learning mandolin, so when practicing chop chords, I turn off the mandolin chop in strum machine so that I fill that roll with the bass and guitar. I use the preloaded songs to practice improvising using major, pentatonic, minor scales and arpeggios. I can't say enough about how thoughtful this app is and how helpful it is to any developing musician. Well done and thank you!!!

Mike Thain ,

Does Everything I Can Ask

I was struggling trying to get Band in a Box to perform the simple task of giving me backing tracks. A friend told me Band in a Box is great and on that (bad) advice I spent $100 on it. It's so convoluted and tedious to set up. And then all of their Bluegrass backing tracks sound like just noise. I couldn't figure out how to get just a boom chuck strum with mandolin chops. And I couldn't get it to sound right in split time. I'm sure with a lot of work and study, it is possible to get it sounding great but I don't have time to master a programming language just to get some backing tracks. Anyway...

I heard about Strum Machine from Marcel and it seemed like an option, but I had some questions:
-Can I use it offline?
-Can I put in my own songs?
-Does it provide the solid rhythm I need?
-Is it easy to use?
-Can I use it on my ipad? And is the app easy to open and activate each time?

The answer to all of these is "yes". Strum Machine has been nothing but a joy to work with. It's so simple to set up and gives me exactly what I need for backing tracks. I can't say enough good things about it.

bleon ,

Best practice tool I have ever found

I started playing bluegrass around the start of COVID. As a result, I did not have an opportunity to play with anyone else. I thought that I was doing pretty well until I got Strum Machine. I now realize that I had a lot to correct. I was, well, awful.

After using Strum Machine for about an hour on Whiskey Before Breakfast, my playing got tolerable. That was a BIG improvement.

I expect to use it almost every day from now on. I can't imagine a better tool for learning to play.

I even found it easy to create a new version of Whiskey Before Breakfast that uses an Em that I use. I'll probably attempt to create a whole song one of these days.

Being able to slow the music down is an unbelievable advantage. Allowing it to automatically speed up is icing on the cake.

I absolutely hate using a metronome, but this is a type of metronome that is actually fun to use. I expect this to increase my bluegrass learning exponentially. There are no downsides as far as I can see.

App Privacy

The developer, Luke Abbott LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

  • Contact Info
  • User Content
  • Identifiers
  • Usage Data
  • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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