Song App vs Song book

I can;t afford the app but do have some very basic short functionality of it and it is a fantastic tool for the first 2 grades. Probably one of the best since the old jam along with books and cds I used to buy years ago.

I was given one of Justins Song Books for Christmas, and it is top notch. Clearly written and set out, but they are what they are… A set of chord charts with lyrics and a few hints on basic strumming.

In short the books are a great basic guide but you will get so much more from the app.

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You need to marry up the books with the YouTube song lessons most of the songs in the book will have an associated lesson.

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@Rossco01 Yes I should have explained that.

You can use the books on their own to get the basic layout of the songs plus they come with lyrics, but using the video lessons alongside will help massively. Not every song in the books has an associated video lesson, but probably 95% do.

The key advantage of the app is being able to jam with the song with or without vocals and you can also alter the speed. That will really help with making chord changes on time because you are forced to keep going. The app does only go as far as grade 2 I believe, so it does have a imited use if you are a bit more advanced.

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I agree that you miss out with the app in terms of single strumming, however, this is a great opportunity to incorporate strumming patterns that you are learning or making up with these single strum songs. My strumming patterns have greatly improved and found that these songs can be more interesting as well as challenging. Hope this helps when the app seems to become “borinng”. Also, before adding strumming patterns these single strum songs greatly improve changing chords in a more timely matter. So my two cents is that the app is AMAZING depending on how you decide to use it. it can be very versatile in how you use it to practice. I am 100% for giving the app a chance.

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@Anticrelic , you’ve probably given up by now, but there is an email link for the app developer on the Google play app. justin.android.feedback@musopia.net
The only other thing I can think is how old the phone is? I tried downloading on an old(very old) phone while this one was being repaired and I got some completely different looking app, an old version I think.
I think it’s really useful for beginners, so it would be a shame if you can’t get it.

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I have the song books and the app. I like them both for different reasons.

The app has tons of songs available, lets you filter by chords you know, and lets you play along with the strum pattern, or with the bands. This is absolutely amazing, at least it is for me.

What the app doesn’t do well is show you the actual layout of the song, so you get good playing well with the app, but you probably don’t remember a lot of what you’re playing. It’s nothing you can’t overcome by committing to writing out what the chords are, but it is still a lot less convenient than just showing the lyrics and the chords. It makes it harder to memorize stuff, or at least I find it harder to memorize stuff.

That’s where the songbooks excel. You get that nice overview layout of the whole song and where each chord is played. The songbooks also give you a bunch of playing tips, variations, things to try, etc.

When I can I have been using the app to “learn to play” the song, and then the songbooks to start actually learning the layout of the songs and starting to memorize stuff.

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Thanks @bethruk for your reply. My phone is a few years old, It’s a Samsung Galaxy A51. I did send a message to the support group on 4th February about the higher price than I expected for the APP (i.e. £80.99 and not £64.99) , and got an automated reply as follows:

Your request (33479) has been received and is being reviewed by our support staff. We will be in touch with you as soon as possible! Please note that our customer support team is available

I’m still waiting but not holding my breath :smiley:

I really would like to get some sort of answer to this, as it seems really odd that yourself and @tticom both got the APP recently at the £64.99 yearly price.

Hi @DavidP , I notice that you are a Justin Guitar forum moderator. As a moderator is there any way you can find the answer to my problem regarding the cost of the mobile phone song APP? I would be very grateful for any help / advice you can give.

Kind regards
Dave

Dave,

I know the App is developed and operated by Musopia, a separate company. But I think their support does monitor the Community.

@MusopiaApps please take note of the issue re price which has been logged (request 33479) and provide feedback to the user. Thanks

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Agreed! I have both the Beginner’s Songbook and the app, but up to this point, I’d only been using the app to play along to the songs. It’s a great tool to introduce one to the flow of the song and work on chord changes “at speed” and things like that. The songbook, at the beginning, was a bit mystifying to me, with how the chords are listed above the lyrics (a completely new concept for me, at the time).

Now I’m sitting at the end of Grade 1 and needing to memorize 5 songs. While the app has helped to a degree, and still will in showing me how a song flows, I think the songbook is now going to be my most valuable tool.

Good luck! That’s where I am as well. What songs are you working on?

I found that “Chasing Cars”, “Story of My Life”, and “Jane Says” are great because they basically just repeat one pattern over and over with a super small variation that’s easy to remember. Just watch out for that strum pattern in Jane Says, it’s super fun but a bit of a bear to learn and set to music.

I’m trying to learn two others, which is where I figured out that the books kinda excel over the app :slight_smile:. I’m currently trying to memorize “Maria” and “Harvest Moon”.

I own the beginner and rock songbooks and I personally like them a lot. Specifically Justin’s notes on each song Rhythm/strumming and general tips are great. Playing along with the song can be difficult with a capo but I feel that I internalize the songs better doing it that way.

For example, when I first played a girl like you in the app I had no clue how to play it, then I opened up the song book and read some of Justin’s notes and it just made more sense. I still play it in the app because the backing track is awesome and it feels much better, but if a song is in both I first listen to the song, look at the chords and lyrics in the song book, read Justin’s notes, play along with the song using the book, then play on the app. So I prefer a hybrid approach.

I just have the Beginner’s Songbook right now (none of your songs are in it, but Jane’s Addiction is enticing) and really just started going through it last night to see what attracts me for the memorization exercise. Hey Joe has a nice, repeating chord progression that I like as it hits one of my weaker chord transitions (G to C), so that’s going to be one target. Mad World is one of my favorites from the app, so I’m going after that too. I love playing Pearl Jam’s Black and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, but both are simplified in the app (WYWH isn’t in the Beginner’s Book), but I suppose nothing’s stopping me from learning the simplified Black and expanding on it as I learn more.

I tend to run through a bunch of songs in the app, for “after practice” fun. I need to rein it in and narrow down my selection to “graduate” grade 1. :wink:

Remember that Justin also has video lessons for a lot of his various song book songs. They are searchable by level, chords used etc.

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@Anticrelic
I am sorry for the confusion and inconvenience.
I do not have the answer.
However, in addition to @DavidP tagging @MusopiaApps here, I have emailed Musopia and Justin too.
I hope you get this sorted soon.
Regards
Richard
:slight_smile:

Hello @Richard_close2u, thank you for taking an interest. Yesterday I eventually received the following reply:

"Thank you for your question about the price.

We have raised the price since we added a lot of content and new feature in the app — the app has a songbook that is updated regularly, and we need to pay copyright licenses to the artists who are featured there.

Moreover, we have a team of developers working full-time not only to keep the app up to date and working properly on every device; but also to research and develop new features and improvements. The current price was the solution we found to be able to offer a high-quality product with an extensive songbook, constant updates, and readily available customer support."

I can understand that maybe a price increase was necessary, but feel a jump from £64.99 to £80.99 to be excessive. At that price I may not bother with the app at all, and I reckon it will deter many other prospective purchases also.

Kind regards,
Dave

Thanks for the update @Anticrelic
I had a vague memory of an announcement so went digging through the archives and found these two posts on social media:

I have blended them all together into two composites.

Regards
Richard

Thanks @Richard_close2u , it looks like I missed the boat so to speak, as I didn’t start my ‘Guitar Journey’ until mid january. I do find it a bit odd that two people on this lessons-songs-app forum signed up at the £64.99 price only 6 days ago! The second image you posted says the new prices were from 6th December :man_shrugging:
Kind regards
Dave

I don’t understand that either if the new price applied from 6th January.

@Anticrelic

I have received this from App developers Musopia:

‘From time to time, we run a special offer which may only be available to eligible users or for a limited time only.
Our current standard prices have remained the same since 6th Dec 2021.
The price is fixed at the time you took out your trial. For example, if a customer signed up for a trial during the Jan Sale on 31 Jan, they will pay the discounted price (20% off) compared to the users who signed up after the 1st Feb - they will only see the standard pricing"

I hope that makes sense of what seemed a differential pricing policy across iPhone / Android but was in fact the result of an end of January special offer that @bethruk and @tticom must have benefited from.