Using a tool that works for you at your current stage of development is not cheating. The people who learned guitar the old fashioned way and rose to fame are prodigies…most of us here are not.
I had a similar experience to you with the app - after a certain point I got more value out of doing my own lead sheets, videos, etc, so it wasn’t devastating when most of my go to songs were purged.
However, if it had happened earlier in my guitar journey, it would have been extremely demotivating…perhaps even enough to stop practicing.
But I still miss using the app to play along with sometimes…it’s still the best way to slow things down, get a quick sense of whether you are ready to play a song, and get the phrasing for lyrics.
I can understand your frustration. The app is a wonderful tool to play, when your time to work out a song is very limited, as it allows you to play without own effort. But I have to admit, that this supposed progress is deceptive. It seems to be a fast success, but it isn’t. If it comes to play without the app one looses the guidelines and it often sounds poor.
Caused by the loss of songs on the app, I started out to work on songs with the Beginners Song Book, Justins videos and by using original song versions on YT. And tadaaa…, suddenly I really remember chord progressions and the structure of songs. So for me, the way to go will be to get less dependent on the app and use it more for the rhythm aspect. Most of the new songs are completely dispensable. I am currently on Grade 2 Module 11, just finished my first year with JG, and can say, the app was really helpful in the beginning and I’ll subscribe for another year soon, but the progress I’ve made by working the songs out within the last weeks was much more than by relying on the app.
I use RipX DeepRemix which allows me to adjust the BPM as well make backing tracks but you have to have a copy of the tracks you want to play/modify.
Another option which is free is an App called Chord Ai which is primarily for transcribing songs (but I wouldn’t rely heavily on the chords transcribed, best to rely on your ears). However, within the application you can search youtube, select the video, the app will process it and then play the video along with the chords its identified. You can adjust the speed and loop sections and transpose chords shown with capo function. The basic version is free. There is a premium version with more accurate chords but like I said I wouldn’t rely on them being accurate.
@oakdesign Unfortunately I don’t think you can get RiffStation anymore which is a shame. The other one that comes to mind which is similar and adds in metronome click and allow you to change the key of the song is Song Surgeon. Never tried it though.
I just got myself the installation 3 weeks ago for tge former free version of Riffstation 1.6. Just cause Fender bought Riffstation and took down the dowload site doesnt mean its not available anymore
A lot of helpful suggestions using software. The thing is, the reason I bought the app was so I could focus on learning guitar, not spending my time figuring out various software applications. I have the songbooks, so I may just use them in conjunction with the website. I may be stuck in not being able to slow down the tempo. If this situation remains the same, I don’t see myself renewing my subscription to the app. That’s a shame. I liked supporting Justin, but the app just doesn’t have any value to me anymore.