iReal Pro

[Luddite]

Hello all, I came across the ireal Pro app on you tube and was wondering if many people use it for practice. I did type it in to the search engine on here but was surprised to only find one thread that talked about a specific problem and nothing about the app in general. Anyone got any experience with this app please?

[Little Jay]

You didn't find this thread?

IReal Pro (jazzguitar.be)

[rpjazzguitar]

13 repeats. Change key by a 4th each chorus. Melody in a couple of keys. Comp in the others. When you miss a note or chord, slow it down.

[Luddite]

Well this most likely shows what Technology idiot I am. Why didn't that thread come up when I typed irealpro in to the search box thingy?. Oh well, I have it now, thank you very much.

[grahambop]

Maybe because you searched for irealpro instead of ireal pro?

Two different things as far as the search function is concerned!

[mr. beaumont]

Great app. Mute the piano player, he blows.

[Doctor Jeff]

But the vibes player is cool!

[Luddite]

Ha ha, justried it the way you said to spell it and it came up with more options. Thank you Graham, I think I am so used to searching in Google and only needing to type in something half right for Google to find it. Obviously this search feature does not work in quite the same way. I really do struggle with technology sometimes. I also tend to find that due to my age often I just cannot be bothered to take time out to learn new things. It is far easier just to get my Son to sort it out. Lol.

[ccroft]

I also prefer the vibes player over the pianist!

[Jonathan0996]

Great app. Mute the piano player, he blows.

You're gonna make him cry.

[fasteddie]

Great app. Mute the piano player, he blows.

If you have GarageBand, import the IReal Pro file. Then you can use GarageBand’s piano options. Sounds much better.

Here’s a link on how to do it on an iPad.

[rintincop]

Is iReal pro still the best play along app for the iPhone?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Is iReal pro still the best play along app for the iPhone?

You sure picked the wrong day to ask me. I just finished correcting three iReal scores for our show tonight. I realized that the iReal score repository is like Wikipedia’s knowledge base. Both are generated by a huge group of disparate contributors with knowledge and skill levels that vary from great to gruesome. The first chart that came up searching for The Look of Love was so far from correct that we’d have grossly embarrassed ourselves and our guest vocalist.

The program will play whatever you put into it, but you really have to carefully check the charts you get from their forums. At best, the sound quality isn’t great - many YouTube backing tracks are far better. But you do get your $15 worth and I use iRP regularly.

I think Garage Band is a better “play along” app for backing tracks. But iRP is great for generating and distributing pdfs of both scores and playlists, and it’s pretty easy to use.

[KirkP]

I use iReal Pro every time I learn a new tune, but I rarely stick with the default chords from the library. Instead, I’ll listen to several recordings of the tune, decide how I hear the chords, then duplicate and edit the chart to my liking, adding my initials after the title to remind myself that it’s been edited. Sometimes I’ll make a couple of different chord charts when I’m studying how different artists played it.

I sometimes practice to bass and a hint of drums as a backing track. The rhythm track is usually awful and not at all how I feel the tune, so I always mute it. The only time I play the rhythm track is as a QC check on my chord edits—If I got a chord type wrong, I’ll hear it!

[pingu]

Is iReal pro still the best play along app for the iPhone?

get ‘genius jamtracks’ app as well
it swings better that irealb

i find they’re both REALLY useful

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I use iReal Pro every time I learn a new tune, but I rarely stick with the default chords from the library. Instead, I’ll listen to several recordings of the tune, decide how I hear the chords, then duplicate and edit the chart to my liking, adding my initials after the title to remind myself that it’s been edited. Sometimes I’ll make a couple of different chord charts when I’m studying how different artists played it.

Yes indeed! And I discovered a new iRB quirk (unless mine’s broken). I put a set list together yesterday for last night’s show - we feature a different local vocalist for the first hour every Thursday and I put a playbook together for each one’s list.

I’d been printing the transposed and corrected scores and binding them into a playbook using DocuBind plastic fasteners. But with my new 10” Kindle, I decided to try a playlist on iRB this week. So I edited the charts and then transposed them to the singer’s keys. But I found an error as I checked the finished product. So I opened that chart for editing…….and it reverts to the key in which it was written when you edit it! After editing and saving, it goes to the transposed key. Weird!!

I’ve been coding since 1965 (Fortran) and am current in many of today’s platforms. Fixing this is an easy patch, and I can’t think of any good reason to have to edit in another key.

[Little Jay]

get ‘genius jamtracks’ app as well
it swings better that irealb

i find they’re both REALLY useful

The folks from genius jamtracks better update their reviews in the app store, there’s only one review that’s 5 years old and negative:



But you recommend it?

[Little Jay]

Yes indeed! And I discovered a new iRB quirk (unless mine’s broken). I put a set list together yesterday for last night’s show - we feature a different local vocalist for the first hour every Thursday and I put a playbook together for each one’s list.

I’d been printing the transposed and corrected scores and binding them into a playbook using DocuBind plastic fasteners. But with my new 10” Kindle, I decided to try a playlist on iRB this week. So I edited the charts and then transposed them to the singer’s keys. But I found an error as I checked the finished product. So I opened that chart for editing…….and it reverts to the key in which it was written when you edit it! After editing and saving, it goes to the transposed key. Weird!!

I’ve been coding since 1965 (Fortran) and am current in many of today’s platforms. Fixing this is an easy patch, and I can’t think of any good reason to have to edit in another key.

Yes, you can only edit in the original key. But I think you can change the default key under the “i” button with ‘set and transpose’? (When in editing mode)

[bluenote61]

The folks from genius jamtracks better update their reviews in the app store, there’s only one review that’s 5 years old and negative:



But you recommend it?

If we are looking at the same app, there might be some error. I see (here in Germany) 42 reviews, the last one from January 2022. Rating is 3.9.
Main critical point is the limited library.

[pingu]

The folks from genius jamtracks better update their reviews in the app store, there’s only one review that’s 5 years old and negative:



But you recommend it?

yes it’s good , the sound is better than ireal and it swings better

[pingu]

If we are looking at the same app, there might be some error. I see (here in Germany) 42 reviews, the last one from January 2022. Rating is 3.9.
Main critical point is the limited library.

they’re so cheap , i recommend getting both ....

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Yes, you can only edit in the original key. But I think you can change the default key under the “i” button with ‘set and transpose’? (When in editing mode)

The problem with doing that is no longer knowing the original key when you open a tune you haven’t played in a long time. We often pick tunes on the stand from my master list, and we play pretty much everything in the original key - so everyone opens iReal just to check the key and remind ourselves of long forgotten bridges etc.

I have about 15 fake books in indexed pdfs with a master list. Until I got iReal, I used them as references and for inspiration. But when we started having a guest vocalist every week, I quickly tired of writing out transposed scores for my sidemen. I can play most tunes in any key, but every once in a while an obscure bridge modulation throws me and I figure it out on the fly by finding a key note in the first bar or two that triggers my memory. I can get away with this playing solo and even in our g-b-d trio. When backing a vocalist or other lead, I’m a lot more comfortable with the change in front of me.

[Little Jay]

The problem with doing that is no longer knowing the original key when you open a tune you haven’t played in a long time. We often pick tunes on the stand from my master list, and we play pretty much everything in the original key - so everyone opens iReal just to check the key and remind ourselves of long forgotten bridges etc.

I have about 15 fake books in indexed pdfs with a master list. Until I got iReal, I used them as references and for inspiration. But when we started having a guest vocalist every week, I quickly tired of writing out transposed scores for my sidemen. I can play most tunes in any key, but every once in a while an obscure bridge modulation throws me and I figure it out on the fly by finding a key note in the first bar or two that triggers my memory. I can get away with this playing solo and even in our g-b-d trio. When backing a vocalist or other lead, I’m a lot more comfortable with the change in front of me.

You are absolutely right, that’s why I don’t change the key by permanently transposing the sheet. I need to know the original key indeed.

[pcjazz]

You are absolutely right, that’s why I don’t change the key by permanently transposing the sheet. I need to know the original key indeed.

or save a copy with the transposed key in the title, leaving the original unchanged

[D'Aquisto Fan]

yes it’s good , the sound is better than ireal and it swings better

I just started using JamTracks. Maybe it's me, but whenever I up the rhythmic or harmonic complexity everything goes bonkers. Like
it's totally out of synch. Not in a good way. Has anyone else had this problem? I agree that JamTracks sounds and swings much better
than iReal Pro.