8 Apps That Can Make You A Better Bassist

This article was written by our friends at Soundstripe:

If you’re new to playing bass, or if you’re just looking to sharpen your skills, then you’ll want all the help you can get. Whatever technique you’re trying to improve on, there’s probably an app to help.

If you’ve ever wondered about apps for bass players, you aren’t alone. 90% of music-related apps are marketed toward guitar players. That can be discouraging, but don’t worry! With these seven apps, you’ll be sure to find something to help you on your low-end journey. Let’s get started.

The Metronome by Soundbrenner

With over 8 million downloads and a 4.7-star rating, Soundbrenner's Metronome app is the highest-rated and most-used metronome app in the world. It's a must-have for bassists of all levels, offering a beautiful and intuitive interface packed with all the features you need.

Soundbrenner's Metronome app offers rock-solid precision, allowing you to create any rhythm in the world. This is particularly useful for bassists, who often need to play complex rhythms and syncopate with other instruments. You can change the time signature and subdivision, and emphasize beats by setting accents, which is perfect for practicing those tricky bass lines.

The app also offers powerful customization options, including over 20 different sounds. The ability to switch between a dark and light theme is also a nice touch.

The app also features world-class setlist management, allowing you to save your rhythms and load them to play in the metronome at any time. This is particularly useful for bassists who need to practice specific songs or sections of songs.

Soundbrenner's Metronome app is available for free on both iOS and Android. For more information, visit the Soundbrenner website. This app is a fantastic tool for any bassist looking to improve their timing and rhythm skills.

Yousician

Yousician is a mobile-based app revolutionizing how bass guitar players learn and hone their skills. It uses sophisticated algorithms to present songs, chords, and practice exercises in real time. As users play along with the app, they can track progress and challenge themselves with increasingly difficult progressions over time.

Additionally, the app contains tools such as tuning assistance, and offers visual feedback on playing accuracy so that users make sure their technique stays on point. Yousician not only provides the opportunity for players to learn new songs, but also helps make existing pieces better. With its user-friendly interface and easy accessibility, Yousician promises to take bass playing to new heights.

JamTracks

JamTracks is an amazing app to help bass players of all levels hone their playing skills. With a collection of over 600 songs and counting, you can easily find the perfect song that fits your style with simple filters.

Once you’ve picked the perfect track, it’s time to start jamming. All tracks are skillfully mastered to give you an ultra-realistic musical experience. Utilize optional drum and percussion loops, chord progressions, and bass lines so that you can find whatever groove fits your style. JamTracks will also measure your progress with built-in performance analytics, so you can always stay ahead of the game when it comes to improving as a bass guitarist.

And if you’re looking for a less conventional method for jamming, try out some royalty free music for background jam tracks. This makes it easy for budding players to gain an understanding of harmony, texture, and advanced techniques like improvisation. JamTracks is an excellent resource for learning new styles, giving you free rein to explore the likes of funk, soul, jazz, and rock without being confined by a genre or specific artist. Ultimately, using royalty-free new music as part of your practice routine can help build strong fundamentals that will benefit you in any musical scenario you may encounter as a bassist.

Fun practice tip - Use SFX when feeling limited. With SFX, you can explore a new range of sounds and experimental techniques that can help to diversify the sound of your instruments and expand the musical palette you offer as a bassist. SFX includes effects like distortion, auto-wah, wah-wah, chorus, flanger, delay, and many more. Each one offers unique nuances that can be tailored creatively to liven up your playing and make it stand out from the crowd.

Bass Guitar Tutor

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced bassist looking for some fresh ideas, Bass Guitar Tutor is the app for you. This unique interactive learning tool allows users to progress at their own pace and get personalized, actionable advice from experts in fingerstyle, slap bass, and improvisation.

With access to over 300 lessons and exercises-- plus playlist recommendations for practice time-- you gain access to an extensive library of audio and video tutorials with full explanations along the way. Developing your skills can be fun and rewarding as you increase your playing confidence within this supportive online environment. Download Bass Guitar Tutor today to see how it can help take you to a higher level.

Bass Pro

Bass Pro is another app for aspiring bassists to level up their performance.. The app not only provides more than 1,000 interactive exercises designed to improve all aspects of your bass playing, but also has the option for step-by-step progress tracking and a connected metronome.

With its user-friendly interface and clear instructions, Bass Pro is the perfect guide for beginners looking to get started on their musical journey, and a useful tool for more advanced practitioners in need of refining their technique. Plus, with improvements made regularly based on users’ feedback, Bass Pro keeps getting better and better. So why wait? Get yourself hooked up with this modern wonder and start mastering those bass lines today.

Fret Trainer

Learning to play the bass guitar takes dedication, hard work, and practice. Fortunately, with Fret Trainer, a revolutionary app for bassists, you can significantly improve your chops from the comfort of your own home. It enables users to select any team of notes used in a song and create exercises that can help turn these notes into muscle memory.

Additionally, Fret Trainer’s extensive library of songs contains tracks from popular bands and genres, so there is something for everyone. With this app’s powerful analytics tools and interactive games, it has never been easier to make real progress on the bass guitar. Start developing those skills now with Fret Trainer.

Tonebridge

Tonebridge is an innovative and user-friendly app that can help you elevate your bass guitar skills. It has a vast catalog of songs featuring backing tracks and allows you to play along with tracks from some of the most iconic bands. With Tonebridge, you have access to thousands of instruments, amplifiers, and pedal effects from over 6,000 popular songs – opening up a world of new possibilities for your playing.

The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing you to find your favorite playing styles quickly. Furthermore, the app only requires a one-time purchase fee for unlimited access to its entire song library. From beginner exercises to complex techniques for bassists looking to master their skills – Tonebridge has something for everyone.

JamUp

JamUp is another app that’s perfect for any level of skill. It Gives its users access to an array of features and tools that are designed to help them hone their skills in bite-size chunks, such as jamming along with simple chord progressions, learning to read tabbed notation, and practicing scales.

It also includes play-alongs from top performers across multiple genres, giving players the opportunity to learn from some of the music industry’s best artists. The best part of JamUp? Its ability to provide real-time feedback on your performance. This allows users to accurately identify weaknesses and develop areas of improvement.

OnSong

OnSong replaces the mess of paper and binders with interactive, auto-scrolling, and transposable chord charts right on your tablet or phone. It’s the epitome of what a 21st-century songbook should be.

The app lets you import and build a library of chords and lyrics with support for Dropbox, Google Drive, SongSelect, Planning Center, and more. On stage, you can tap to turn pages or sync the app to foot pedals to control it hands free. (We have a lot of our MIDI Maestro users using the two together!)

The app can do more than just organize your set list too! It can:

transpose songs
write songs
share with multiple band members
control stage lighting
display song lyrics
and more

Find the app on the App Store today, and use our link to save 10% when you choose your plan.

The Bottom Line

These days, there are plenty of fantastic apps available to help bassists hone their skills and become better players. From beginners to bass aficionados, any one of these apps can make learning the bass fun and rewarding.

Author Bio: Zac Carr is a Chicago-based content writer for Captive Demand, a full-service marketing agency offering demand generation, web development, SEO, CRO, and content creation solutions.