Brilliant!
This app is exactly what I needed, both for functionality AND for ease of use. It is highly intuitive, fast and easy to customize my own backing tracks, simple to sort them, and importantly, to find them again. It’s helping me so much with my practicing! The developer is also highly supportive and hard at work making it even better.
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Great Backing Rhythms
As an ear musician on several instruments, this app has been very helpful with my timing. Highly recommended. Use a Bluetooth speaker to increase the volume.
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.
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.
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Great idea well implemented
What a brilliant app! I have been hoping for something like this to come asking for a while now, and I’m very impressed with how easy this is to use. It is well suited to folk music, with a system for creating backings that is clearly built by someone who understands how traditional fiddle tunes are structured. For future updates I’d love to see more time signatures- for example 3/2 timing for old English and Scottish music, more instruments including more drone type sounds, ability to share backings.
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Love this app!!
I downloaded this last week after my wife showed it to me. I’m having so much fun with it. I play banjo. I’ve saved a lot of songs they have on the sight, and I’ve added a bunch more they didn’t have. It’s very easy to add your own songs. It’s like having a jam available to you 24/7. The longest I’ve played with it at one sitting was 3.5 hrs. I may break that tomorrow during our snowstorm
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Solo Learners - do yourself a favour
I have now started learning the banjo in an almost banjo-free environment (not counting YouTube), and find that using this great little app speeds up the learning process a lot. Well worth the sub.
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!!!
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Wish I found this sooner
Fantastic app for honing timing and accuracy, and so configurable yet simple to use which to me is the biggest factor for my rating. I have enjoyed immediate day 1 results from using it and see this bring my go-to practice aid for the foreseeable future.
Great app… but..
This is a great app, it’s really well designed and does what it says.. but it’s subscription based why?
Remember when you could just pay for software once and then use it?
Subscriptions are just greedy.
I’d happily pay a once off price that gives most full song writing features and then pay for songs I want.. then I’d give this as many stars as possible..
but as is I just can’t give it a good review.
It’s just not worth $9 a month.
Remember when you could just pay for software once and then use it?
Subscriptions are just greedy.
I’d happily pay a once off price that gives most full song writing features and then pay for songs I want.. then I’d give this as many stars as possible..
but as is I just can’t give it a good review.
It’s just not worth $9 a month.
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Response from developer
For what it's worth: Strum Machine has taken thousands upon thousands of hours of work to get to where it is today, and I plan to keep improving it for years to come. At the same time, it is "niche" software with a relatively small number of users. Without the subscription model, I simply would not be able to afford to spend the amount of time on building and improving the product as I can now. It's not greed; I built this app for the music community that I love, not to get rich. Having an ongoing subscription means I get to focus almost all of my energy on supporting my users and improving the product, versus continually trying to find new users so that I can put food on the table. 🙂
App freezes
I love this app but your recent update has caused the app to freeze while using. Please fix this and the app will be fantastic again. Update they fixed the issue quickly and the app is once again FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!
Response from developer
Thank you for updating your rating, Harvey! I really appreciate it. Hopefully the last time a faulty update gets accidentally released!
