Feeling lost in the room
Like many aspiring musicians, I spent lots of hours practicing guitar by myself in my early days. At the beginning of our journey as musicians, we don't always get the chance to gather with other people to practice or jam. Most of the time, it’s just you, your guitar, and those generic backing tracks you find online.
When I finally got friends to jam with, it was tough, and I even got a little lost. I didn't know how to listen to what the other instruments were doing, interact with bandmates, or actually jam along instead of just playing my own parts on top of the others.
Build your own band in the app
Practicing with other people might not be realistic all the time, so that's where the Moises app comes in. With the app, you can build your own backing tracks, with real music played by real musicians. That way, you can jam along with a band even when you're alone in your room.
Drag in a song and get every instrument on its own
The process is simple: just drag the song you want to practice into the app. With the stem separation feature, you split the instruments into their own tracks, so you can isolate the piano, strings, vocals, guitar, or whatever part you want. Once I load a song, I usually sit and listen for a minute first, to see if the mix feels right for what I want to work on.
Turn any instrument up and make it the center of attention
What I really like about Moises is that I can shape my own mix out of those isolated pieces. For example, I can bump up a song's kick drum to around 90 percent to really feel it, then jam along with the track to hear what the other instruments were doing (and what I could add to the song).
Zero in on the vocalist, not just the beat
I also really like locking into what the vocalist is doing. When the singer does something cool, I try to answer it on the guitar, or even double it the next time that line comes back around. Following the example I gave, bumping the vocal up to around 90 percent (and putting it right alongside the kick) puts all the interesting parts in the front of my mix.
Jump straight to the chorus with Sections
Want to focus on a specific section? Use the Sections tab, which detects every part of the song, separates them, and tells me exactly where the verse, the chorus, and the hook are. I chose going straight for the chorus, since it's the highlight of the song and where I wanted to spend my practice time.
Mute your own instrument and actually listen
To really lock in with the bass and the vocalist, I muted the other guitar entirely. That way, I had nothing to lean on, just me reacting to what the band was doing. That's when I caught a little keyboard line I hadn't noticed before, and it inspired me to bring it back to the guitar and actually interact with the keyboard player, the vocalist, and the kick at the same time.
You don't have to jam alone anymore
Once you zoom in to any instrument and hear exactly what it's doing, you can practice by jamming with the whole band instead of just playing along to a track. You don't have to play by yourself anymore, and you can walk into a room with real musicians with a better idea of how to interact and respond instead of feeling lost.
Try it today with a song you already know, and see if you can play it a little differently the next time you're jamming with your friends.
Download Moises now. Try Moises free!