Music practice tools

Author: staff G. (site administrator)

This is an article from the website administrator as an amateur musician. I will introduce practice tools commonly used in music practice.

• Tuner: To tune any pitched instruments.
• Metronome: To Keep the tempo in your practice.
• Virtual piano/keyboard: To find a note on the sheet music.
• Variable speed/pitch music player: To practice with play-along. Slow down to dictate fast passages.
• Audio/video recorder: To record your practice and review.

Typical type of tools are;

• Physical devices: Tuning fork, Clip-on tuner, electric metronome, mechanical metronome, audio recorder, video recorder, etc.
• Smartphone Apps (for Android or iOS, iPadOS): Almost anything on physical devices are available at low cost or free.
• Web Apps: Run on web browsers on PC (Windows, macOS) or smartphones without installation. Some of them run offline.
• Others: Platform dependent apps either paid or free.

Web Apps are less popular than smartphone apps but free and useful. The same app runs on all of your devices.

The author recommends to visit https://www.musicca.com/tools  to find many type of tools.

The most popular tuner is an electric guitar chromatic tuner. A guitar tuner works for any stringed instrument: bass guitar, guitar, violin, ukulele, shamisen, sanshin, etc. Note that a tuner can be used for shakuhachi but shakuhachi does not have a way to tune. Its pitch is fixed.

Here are some examples of the products.

• Popular guitar tuners (10 to 20 USD) Search guitar tuners on amazon.com
• Smartphone apps (free): BOSS tuner (Roland)  Android, iOS
• Web app on musicca

There are so many metronome apps for smartphones. Basic metronome apps are suitable for beginners.

• Tempo (free or paid): Android, iOS
• Online metronome (musicca)

Also try the author’s online metronome (web app of the eye catch image) for advanced functionalities) such as voice count, drum beats, practice timer, odd measures.

Virtual piano is like a toy piano. Two or more notes cannot be played at the same time in general. So, please do not expect too much.

• Smartphone apps: There are many. Find your favorite.
• Online piano (musicca)

Note that the sound quality will be low if speed and/or pitch is changed.

• Amazing Slowdowner Lite (free): Android, iOS
• The author’s web app

Sound quality is very important in music recording.

• Built-in recorder of smartphones: Convenient but Sound quality is not great.
• Video recorder for music: Zoom Q2n-4K (USD 200, amazon.com)

Also, try our compatibility test (web app, limit 5 min). It has a recording function. Download the recorded file and play it on a PC or smartphone.