ChordU Website/App Review (9/10)

V8

Warning: I found this website/app seriously addictive. As in 2 hours past bedtime addictive ?

It's a chord detection thing we've seen before.... Basically, Rocksmith for chords. But it uses youtube as the input. So if the tracks on youtube and it can recognize the underlying chords - you're in business!

Which I found incredibly useful as a lot of tracks I'd like to jam along to don't have tabs (live tunes and my not-so-secret love of dodgy 90's and 00's electronic music). So , if it hasn't already figured out the chords - it'll go estimate the chords and autoplay once it's done - takes about 10-15s on average.

I tried around 20 tunes and it was somewhat to extremely useful for all but one (a electro track that I suspect was speeded up so there wasn't really a recognizable pitch).

Here's pic of the play view.

You get chords with diagrams and can switch between a Diagram Slider view with the upcoming chord flipping from left to right (it's usually flips just before the chord needs to be played) or you can switch to 'Chord Sheet' which shows all the chords through the song. I stuck with the slider view, seemed to be easier to use.

You can also transpose, speed up/down (25% increments) and re-tune the incoming tune - though that didn't really work that well on the dodgy tune I fed it.

And you can get it to show chords for Piano, Uke and Mandolin...that's pretttttyyyy darn sweet!!!

So how did I find it useful?

Figuring out the root notes for just following along with the bass. Much fun, fun way to get the feel of the tune. Hotel California's bassline is tricky off the tabs, but fun just to plod along with the root notes on the bass.
Ear training. It's a kickstart for your ears - I figured out riffs just by seeing which root they were being played off. This was damn useful!
Blasts from the past. Used to know the tune? Sat with the tab and learnt it eons ago, but can't recall it? I pulled a good few riffs and progressions out of my dusty n rusty brain archives just by seeing the underlying chords.
Simplify over complex tabs. I'm not one to sit with note for note transcriptions. GImme the underlying chords and let my ears do the rest - this works sooooo well for that.
Can't find a tab or at least one that makes sense? Again, this gives you a kickstart in the right direction!
Trying to do figure out a track, but can't find the root note? Some of the electronica tunes I like arn't actually tuned to pitch - because DJ's/Producers don't care they'll re-pitch the track to something that can't be played along to - saved many a grey hair to get confirmation that you're not going mad if you can't find a root note,
If you are logged into youtube, it seems to figure out what you are into and makes suggestions based on that and what you've historically used the app to detect. (Please don't judge me on the screenshots....?)

Cons: It isn't perfect!

Not much help for Riffy tunes (E.g. Metallica tunes). But it still figures out the underlying chord so you get some help - but you'll probably still need a tab/youtube tutorial for tunes with riffage.
it had issues with recognizing Major vs Minor chords
One or two tracks weren't in sync music to chords, occasionally the chords lagged behind the track (usually it's just in front of the tune)
I didn't see bpm shown anywhere nor the overall key of the track. But these are very minor gripes.
It'll seriously eat into your sleep time.

Check the website here, or get it for Android or iOs

V8

Day 2's jams revealed a few chinks in ChordU's armour...

To me, it seems to be more pop/singer-songwriter orientated - when you slow down the track the vocal is featured more heavily than instruments.

Figured out that it will not (yet?) pitch correct the input video - so if it's a Eb blues jam, you'll have to tune down to Eb instead of pitching the trackup to E. The "Tune Chords" let's you adjust the shown chords up/down semitones - but this is a display thing only - I guess useful if you are using a capo or if the chord estimation is way out?

It really does get a bit confused with fast riffage - The slow sections in SOAD's Toxiticty were spot on, but the moment the riffage intensified it wasn't having too much of that! Still useful though.

It however, impressed me mightily with accuracy on anything without riffage - pop, reggae, slower rock, etc - all solid. Great for music where tabs arn't readily available (E.g. Afrikaans tunes)

And I'm liking just opening up the website and seeing what it thinks I'll like. I got sucked into a Brittney Spears tune and - yes- it was fun to slap out a bass line to "Baby. Baby, hit me one more time". Slightly embarrassing, but educational to have to get around the fretboard by memory (Where's the A# again? ?)

One thing I didn't mention in the initial post...it's a awesome tool for studying genre'ss. E.g. Pop has a formula and ChordU let's you get into the nuts n bolts of the progressions really easily - that Chord Sheet view is great for easily getting a idea of what structure the song has (E.g. Intro, Bridge, Verse, Middle 8) - double thumbs up for that!

nick_D01

thanks for posting about this site Meron. I wasnt aware that it was around ? . as soon as I've got a bit more time, going to read thru your posts in detail, maybe sit with it and give it a go ?

V8

nick_D01 Yeah, it's a interesting thing, it made it onto my bookmark toolbar - if that means anything ?