iReal Pro

IF you don’t care about lyrics. You can type them in but space is limited. However, it pushes you to learn notation which serious musicians should know. Been using constantly for eight years.

This is basically an iPhone apps that was clumsily updated for iPad. If you’re planning on using this on your iPad and are planning on creating your own backing tracks for practice sessions, I would look elsewhere. It is rarely updated. If you download pre-made charts for backing tracks it works pretty well, but I need to make practice material and attempting to input chords and formatting is clumsy. The assistance from the forums is outdated, all the tutorial demonstrations are screen recording

I’ve had it for a few years now and me and most of the people I play with also use it. It’s so versatile, you can change the key the speed the style, choose the chord position that works best for any given tune and so much more. There’s a great selection of songs and the support has been incredible. You can even correct the music by changing the chords. It’s a bargain. Get it, you won’t regret it.

IReal is a must have for the practicing musician. The ability to learn standards in all keys alone makes it essential for anyone who takes practicing seriously.

This app does everything I need to practice jazz and many other genres. I use it with all my students and my original compositions as well. It’s less good with rock music. There are fewer rhythm tracks available. But there are excellent choices for Latin, Brazilian, and Blues.