JamTracks+ Learn & Play Guitar

I'm old - 61 - been playing forever, a strummer, G-D-A all night long. Always wanted to be able to play leads. I have a pretty good ear, wanted to know how to play a lead in a given key. I get together a couple of times a year to play with friends. I took lessons for one year about 2 years ago, didn't learn much. Then I found this app. I know it's trite to say it took my playing to a whole new level but it's true. In 40+ years of playing, this is the single biggest difference-maker in my playing. I got together with my buddies in March to jam and on every song, I'd hit the foot switch on my Marshall and play a lead on my Les Paul. They really were astonished. They kept laughing & giving me crap - "Who ARE you??" They just couldn't believe it. I ended every song by shouting, "Jam Tracks - $4.99!" 😀 Everyone learns differently, I get that. I call this the chimpanzee method - big dots to show you where to put your fingers. It's so simple. Now I hear a song I like, I just slide up the low E string til I hear the root note & go from there. It has boosted my playing enjoyment by 10,000%. I friggin love this app.

Key being ALMOST! I really liked this app as I was getting into improvising a lot of blues. Super useful for that purpose. But a couple things would make this an easy 5 stars.... First, needs to have a variable tempo feature. When learning new stuff it's super beneficial to be able to start slow and speed up as you improve. This app has songs at different tempos but if you want to play a medium tempo Texas blues jam you are out of luck. It's either really fast or really slow. Most of the "styles" are set up the same. Also the are no flats or sharps in regards to key selection. Not that big of a deal but wanted to mention it. I still like the app and recommend for those just looking to practice lead but give me tempo control and I would LOVE this app. Heck I would pay for that feature. As is I'm still on the hunt for the "perfect app".

What I most like about the Jam Tracks suite is not only the handiness, go-anywhere on your iPhone aspect but the fact that the pre-recorded practice-along music is actually really good. Unlike the muddied, watered down drum mixes you hear in current pop, rock and on many instructional CDs the pre-recorded drums of Jam Tracks actually have energy, you can hear the individual pieces of the kit, the ride cymbal has a nice ping that cuts through and the snare sound has that snap/pop sound that really propels your rehearsing along. I recommend for anyone who wants to improve their playing.