The Strum Machine mobile and web app, designed to offer real-sounding play-along tracks for bluegrass, old-time, country, swing, Celtic, and other acoustic music players, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a major upgrade.
What made this app popular from the start was the fact that it uses playback sounds recorded from real acoustic instruments, so you can practice your guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, reso-guitar, or bass with Strum Machine and hear the sound of actual instruments playing the chords behind you.
Plus it not only offers a large catalog of premade backing tracks, more than 1,000 in total, it is quite simple to edit them or add new ones of your own. Users can change the key of the playback, or the speed, easily as you practice.
Luke initially designed the app as something for his students to use at home, but as their positive reviews poured in, he decided to build it out to something that could be used by anyone, anywhere.
Now creator Luke Abbott has released a major upgrade to the software, without changing the monthly fee of $5 to subscribe, the same as it was in 2016.
For this upgrade, he and his partner took the feedback they have gotten from users to make Strum Machine even better, and easier to use.
“I’ve had thousands of conversations with users over the past ten years, which gives me a good idea of what folks need and what gaps still need to be filled. So with an update like this, Tyler and I will spend hours obsessing over details, because we know how much folks rely on this tool for their daily practice, and we care deeply about keeping the app intuitive and easy to use.”
New for this year are:
- Quick access to playback settings – streamlined controls that surface features that existed but were previously hard to find
- Improved mobile player – easier to start, stop, and adjust tempo, even holding the phone in one hand with fingerpicks on
- Dark mode – easier on the eyes at night or when glancing at chords at a jam or gig
- Metronome option – hear a click track alongside or instead of the instruments when desired
Abbott says that keeping the monthly price stable was very important to him.
“We’re not a big company trying to maximize revenue. We’re musicians building this for ourselves and our fellow musicians. The thing that brings me the most joy in this work is hearing from users who’ve found Strum Machine helpful in their practice and in finding more joy in this music.
This isn’t a business I’m looking to sell. It’s a community I plan to keep serving for the rest of my life.”
You can learn more about the new and improved Strum Machine app online.
