Random Roots - Music Trainer

Anton's app is incredibly helpful, no matter what instrument you play. As someone who kept procrastinating and putting off this phase of my learning, I can say I am incredibly grateful an app like this exists. Incredibly user-friendly, with a ton of options for flexibility. If you are like me and maybe not sure where to start, Anton even includes some basic exercises to get the new user going. I started (painfully slowly, I might add!) with those and worked my way into making my own gradually harder exercises. Every day is a new challenge. It's been a rewarding and extremely humbling process. Well worth the money. Thanks Anton!

I’ve been learning and playing scales, arpeggios and cadences for years and I have them down cold ... until I get to the jam and can’t seem to remember any of them. Random Roots presents a completely different way hold that same information in your brain. So, for instance, it is forcing me to understand the relationships of the 3s and 7s in ii-V7-I in a way I haven’t done before. Instead of relying on fingering patterns on the fretboard, I’m actually considering what notes are appropriate over the upcoming chord. This is exactly the transformation I have been looking for.

I’ve used Anton’s random roots exercise using his paper matrix and this new app takes that exercise to the next level. I’ve only scratched the surface using the many approaches you can use with this app and it’s thoughtful design. In the East Bay, CA, (and in Seattle), jazz lovers and students know and respect Anton for his monster playing and commitment to jazz education. And many of us are aware of his notable academic achievement and background at Stanford. With this new app, he’s synergistically combined a little bit of both to help us move along the musical learning continuum in a structured and fun way. I’m looking forward to using this app toward improving my playing and musical acumen with the goal of moving to the next level.