I started the trial period with the app and I have a big concern with it. Namely, when I play a song, the app does not show if I fail a particular chord or note.
I started to play the guitar with Yousician and I got used to the way it works: if I miss a note it immedately turns red, if I am correct, it greens out. I get immediate feedback. Yousician even shows which string is dead if I play a chord wrong.
With this app however, I don’t get any feedback and the app does not evaluate my performance.
I may not have looked thoroughly the functions, but this will be a deal breaker for me if it does not.
As far as I know, the app does not listen to your performance; it’s up to you to judge if you did it right. Maybe that’ll be a feature they’ll add down the road; don’t know. They have been recently updating the app with improved “practice” versions of songs (not all songs have this feature, unfortunately), click tracks, and animated strumming patterns.
I think it is a huge bottleneck then. For a rookie I think it would be a must to receive feedback about what he/she plays. Without knowing I have made a mistake, how on earth can I correct it?
Personally I don’t want to play chords in a song clumsy.
The app is not cheap in any way, but without this functionality I am not buying it.
Whether you buy it or not is purely a personal choice; it’s useful with the songs though, but it’s not a “must-have” to learn.
Justin’s “Chord Perfect” portion of the early lessons is where you focus on nailing the chords and learning how they sound. After practicing these enough, your ear should be able to pick out whether or not you played a chord correctly or not. My A and C chord fingering sometimes grazes strings they ought not and I can immediately hear it and make corrections (most often while playing songs). I don’t see this as a bottleneck, personally.
I think it’s completely naturally that we all play chords in songs clumsily at first; just give some of the Nitsuj videos a watch and you’ll see plenty of it while Justin’s learning left-handed.
Hi @Victorius i can’t comment on Yousician but if that’s working for you ( it sounds like it is) then why not stick with that? You don’t have to use Justin. I would say there is only a certain amount an app can measure for you then I think you’ll need to start recording yourself so that you can make a better assessment of how your getting on.
The issue with chord recognition in software like yousician is that it works so-so with some guitar setup. In some faster songs, I get random chords recognition error which frustrates me. I would need to buy a better mic or audio interface to maybe improve accuracy. I don’t have this frustration when playing Justin App. Just plain fun. Eventually, the ear develop and you can judge by yourself when a chord is wrong.
Hopefully, your yousician setup works better than mine Still, to pratice strumming and timing, Justin App gave me better results.
I started with Yousician and used it for a couple of years. For me the problem is the visual approach. It hampered my progress in the long run because I used my eyes instead of my ears to play a song. I’ve also used the JustinGuitar app for a year and it mostly share the same limitations, in my experience.
Now I’m using the beginner song books with the website lessons and make some good progress and get knowledge that stick to my brain!
The app isn’t a game it is a serious tool giving a massive collection of songs to jam along with to hone your rhythm guitar skills and repetoire. Your feedback comes from your ears which should be all that you need.
It gives you full freedom to experiment with different rhythm patterns, not just the one strum per bar that some people think it “tells” them to do.
If I could afford it I would definitely buy it. It is not a necessary thing to have but with all those backing tracks at your finger tips a hugely useful one.
I will address your issues though I suspect you won’t be satisfied and will not choose Justin’s app in the end.
It never has and it is not designed to do that.
You are your own feedback provider as, through learning by following Justin’s beginner course and all the methods, you will have been training your fingers and hands and ears to form chords properly and to hear clean chords properly.
What happens when it turns red? Do you stop playing?
Perhaps in your thinking. Relying on a machine to tell you what your hands and ears should be telling you.
Learning guitar is all about drilling the basic fundamentals of chord formation, chord changes and progressions, rhythm and strumming. Then the application of these in playing along, in very simple manner at first, with songs. The App has lessons that teach the fundamentals. And it has songs that are specifically designed as play-along songs to match the lessons. It has a tempo function to allow the songs to be slowed down for easier play-along. It is not a game with challenges and levels and leaderboards. It is not a colour-coded electronic support for correct or incorrect playing. You need to develop the skills that you claim Yousician has. If you then want external feedback for additional support use the sections within this community where people post recordings of there progress for exactly that reason.
You money, your choice.
Regards
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
I understand the concept here even if I don’t think I need this. I started to play the guitar from scratch 2 months ago. There are 10 levels in Yousician, I have just recently completed level two. I have learnt E, Em, A, Am, G, C, D chords. In the meantime I can play actual songs matching my level from a library of hundreds if not thousands of songs which do entertain me.
For a rookie like I am, success is very important to continue. Success to me means that I can “play a song” no matter how basic it is just by looking at a screen which tells me which string to press at which fret. I am the one who is playing all notes in the song. Playing basic riffs and melodies in actual songs make me progress.
Chord changes on the other hand, no matter how crucial they are not entertaining to practice. Nor are songs where I have to play alternating A and D chords, just the chords. I don’t feel I am the one who actually plays the song.
The online lessons are great and I will continue my learning there. But the app lacking this very important feature for me is not my cup of tea.
Awesome! If you are having fun playing guitar with it, then it’s a good tool for you. We are lucky to have all those tools that were not available 10 years ago.
Hi Victorious and welcome to Community. I won’t be defending the app myself as I would be a hypocrite if I was without a licence, just wanted to say it’s all up to a person which tools he/she will pick to get better at playing guitar. Doing Justin’s course doesn’t mean you can’t look around for something else. As long as you are having fun and can see progress - well that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? all the best.
I have noted some difficulty even with these metronome apps that have bold visuals.
I think it is important to hear, something I am not good at due to lack of experience.
I want to play on the auditory beat of the metronome, or music that I am playing with.
I need to hear the rhythm to play along with music, rather than see the music even though I am bad enough at hearing it is easier to see it.
Seeing and not hearing will be one of those hard to unlearn “practice makes permanent “ issues.
Success of the day: Yesterday I managed to play (60ish BPM) the cord changes of “House of the Rising Sun”, including the F barre cord, without looking at my fingers at all! Yay!
I’m a little confused by this quote. Justin’s app is not just chord changes. It does provide a karaoke style to a song and there are hundreds of songs you can choose by chords, level, artist, etc.
It does not provide feedback on how well you did. To each their own, but I don’t see how that feature is that helpful. I’m a beginner and have only used Justin, so I cannot compare. However, it’s really obvious to me when I make an error. I don’t need the app to tell me when my string is buzzing. I don’t need an app to tell me that I missed the timing. I can feel those things. Additionally, I learn the songs to play so that I don’t the app. What are you going to do when you play without the app? You will be your critic.
As others said, do what helps encourage you most to pick up the guitar. That’s the most important.
