Strum Machine Honest Review: Cost, Alternatives & More

The Strum Machine is an app that old-time music players use to backtrack while practicing. The Strum Machine app is an accompaniment program to practice acoustic guitar, mandolin, and upright bass. It includes about 1300 songs that old-time, bluegrass, and other string-band musicians can use. If this is your first time hearing of old-time and bluegrass music, you can check out our article on the different genres of music to know what they are. The Strum Machine app also lets you create and share fully customizable backing tracks to play on the app. 

So, what are some of the things to love about this app?

1. It Sounds Great: This is the Strum Machine's primary feature. It provides real instrument sounds in real-time to give you that genuine real-life experience. The machine takes notes, chords, and strums recorded on real instruments and brings them together. With no MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface ), wooden tracks, or poorly recorded tunes, the Strum Machine sounds excellent and authentic. It prepares you for real band experiences.

2. Play At Your Speed: Another fantastic feature of the app is that it lets you set your tempo and key as you play along with your favorite instrument. With the -/+ buttons, you can easily adjust playback speed and add or subtract the instruments you want to hear. You can also type in an exact BPM number if you prefer. It's even more impressive that you can adjust the playback speed without reducing the tune's quality because it is real-time. In summary, you can adjust your feel, and that's great.

3. It's Interactive: The Strum Machine impressively guides you through the tune you're practicing, so you never lose track. It points out the current beat you're on, ensuring you are aware enough to stay focused on your tune and get back to it if you lose your way for a minute. That way, you accustom yourself to playing a tune exactly how it is, enough to know how to get innovative with it and create a new tune. In addition, you can loop any part of the tune you are learning. That is helpful because you can review any challenging part of a tune until you become proficient. In addition, musicians can choose their preferred chord nomenclature, either relative (I, IV, V) or absolute (G, C, D).

4. A Huge Library: The Strum Machine app has about 1300 preloaded songs. It's a vast, incredible library because you have a lot to pick from. The songs are either old-time, bluegrass, or other string-band songs. The fact that the machine focuses explicitly on those genres of music means that it has a more remarkable ability to do a great job. In addition, it has a high search speed, so you can find tunes quickly. You don't even have to worry if you can't find a song; the machine's spontaneous song editor lets you add or edit any tune. Therefore you can add your favorite tune or modify an existing tune until it becomes your new favorite. You can also share any new tunes that you create.

5. Fantastic User Interface And Experience: Any app with great features will only fall below expectations if you can't easily use it. However, that's not the case with the Strum Machine. The Strum Machine is simple and easy to use in addition to its elegance and sophistication. Moreover, you can run the program on any device – computer, smartphone, or tablet. It's flexible enough to support iOS and Android systems, which is a huge plus. You won't waste time looking for a feature because, somehow, you'll know where every feature could be. That's how transparent the app is.

6. Pricing: The Strum Machine offers an excellent 14-day free trial to use all its unique features. After the free trial, the machine requires an inexpensive $5 monthly subscription fee. It's great if you're working on a budget. For all the impressive features it offers, $5 is a huge discount!

Everyone has only great things to say about the Strum Machine. That's unsurprising because the Strum Machine is impressive. However, this Strum Machine review is unbiased, so we'll tell you the truth – Strum Machine could be better. 

The Strum Machine doesn't include a claw hammer banjo which many old-time musicians love. Furthermore, old-time players complain that the songs are more bluegrass and the guitar tunes favor bluegrass players more. Therefore there could be an EQ (equalization) option to help manipulate the frequency of the guitar tunes. 

Another great option is to record another guitar. The app should also include more old-time songs or allow people to add theirs directly to the public library. In addition, the Strum Machine can make learning and practice easier by including simple bass functions rather than just the relative and absolute chords.

Impressive as the Strum Machine is, some people prefer to use other programs, sites, and whatnot to learn and practice. There are a couple of alternatives to the Strum Machine. You can choose to use any, depending on how you feel. You can consider the following.

• ShowOne

• TwelveKeys

• AnthemScore

• Finale PrintMusic

• SoundCue

We hope you loved this Strum Machine review. Remember to leave a comment if you found this article helpful or wish to say anything about the Strum Machine.