u/ReaperShield

For the more advanced players here: when you're improvising or playing by ear, and you hear a melodic interval that isn't immediately obvious (say a major or minor 6th), what is your primary mental anchor?

• The interval from the previous note (i.e. identifying it as a 6th)?
• The function of the target note relative to the current chord/root?
• And if the chord changes between the two notes, does your answer stay the same?

Please don't answer “I've internalized all of this, I don't think about it, I just play what I hear.” That's not really what I'm asking here.

Likewise, if you have perfect pitch and simply hear the target pitch directly, that's a different process and not what I'm interested in for this question.

Here’s yet another AI-slop app nobody asked for.

The twist: I’m not selling anything. I just made it for myself because I wanted to practise jazz ear training on holiday without a piano, and I thought it would be fun.

I used the Weimar Jazz Database, manually picked around 250 of the phrases I found most interesting, and turned them into a little game where you work them out by ear and transpose them.

When I could find the original recording on YouTube, I also synced the exact excerpt so you can hear the phrase in context.

It also works with a MIDI keyboard.

Have fun.

I used the Weimar Jazz Database to create an ear-training program for myself, so I could practise while on holiday without a piano. I turned it into a little game where you have to work out and transpose phrases from real jazz solos. Have fun!

About 85% of chord progressions in jazz standards can be reduced to a short catalog. I built that catalog, along with an app to drill those progressions in all their variants.

It’s also a chart reader: it imports iReal format, with better playback and a better editor.

Private Android beta, for now.

Could you give me some feedback on the piano comping feel and placement, for my app?

I'm not unhappy with it, but it's not that easy to have something natural, at that tempo (230 bpm).

Thanks!

I’m looking for a few motivated beta testers for my Android app, Sharp Eleven.

It’s a jazz practice app in the spirit of iReal Pro. To avoid any confusion: it’s not really in the same category as The Feel Book. Sharp Eleven is much closer to iReal Pro: charts can be created and edited, and the playback is generated rather than based on pre-recorded loops.

Here’s a short playback demo. In the video, I’m showing one of the real-time cue controls: switching between two-feel and four-feel while the chart is playing.

A few things I’m focusing on:

• iReal charts/playlists import
• Fast chord editing directly in the chart view
• A full text-based chart editor with automatic layout
• Creating charts on a computer and sending them to the phone with QR codes
• Sharing charts with QR codes
• Real-time playback cues, so you can trigger musical actions while practicing
• Drill Mode, which lets you take any section of a chart, like a lick, a ii-V-I, a turnaround, etc., and practice it in every key

Drill Mode was actually the starting point of the whole project, and it’s still the feature I use most in my own practice.

For now, testing is Android-only. If you’re interested in trying it and giving feedback, send me the email address associated with your Google account by DM.

If you don’t feel like beta testing, even just reacting to the playback demo would still be useful to me.