Ever wondered about apps for bass players? If you’ve ever looked at musicians jamming at practicing, you may have seen them use several apps- be it for checking out the chord progressions, to tune up the instrument, or to keep a steady beat.
In the past, players would have to repeat parts of songs till they figured out the notes and were comfortable enough to play along with the record with a decent level of accuracy. The players were also stuck with often-faulty tabs and songbooks as there were no handy apps that would make their lives easier.
Apps have made many things easier- including tuning the instrument and playing backing tracks for the musician to improvise on top.
This post is going to walk you through the handpicked list of the best apps for bassists. But before, I talk about my favorite apps, I want to talk a bit about the perks of apps and how they might help you in everyday sessions. Let’s get started, shall we?
Table of Contents
Benefits of Digital Apps
The advent of digital apps and websites has helped make the world smaller- and if you googled bass guitar tabs, you would find millions of tabs. Resources like these are fantastic for new learners, and you don’t need to pay expensive music tuition or get songbooks.
Regardless of whether you are a beginner just picking up the bass guitar for the first time, or a veteran player who is regularly playing gigs, you will certainly find value in bass apps. These are the benefits that digital apps can provide to bassists and other musicians:
Self-paced learning
While you can find pretty much anything online, the biggest benefit of digital learning, I believe, lies in the ability to provide you with self-paced learning. You can tackle any topics you want, and if you feel comfortable, you can finish an entire module in just a week or two.
Compare that with in-person lessons and you will find that physical lessons are much less flexible and not only do you need to get there on time, but you also need to follow the pace the instructor has set for you.
Budget-friendly
You are paying little to no fee when learning online, and this budget-friendly learning method means that you can learn as a beginner without worrying about saving up for lessons. Instrument lessons are pretty costly, and not everybody has the means and resources to save up to pay for their lessons.
As you get more advanced, the fees will also increase, so you need to have the means to provide for that.
Getting online lessons is hassle-free, and flexible, and if you don’t want to learn from an instructor, you can pick up a free ebook.
Find Instructors You Like
With traditional learning systems, you are pretty much restricted to instructors in your area. The teacher might like jazz and you may want to play chuggy rock and metal- and your instructor will have you practice jazz standards.
Learning digitally will help you get past that, and you can easily choose from thousands of instructors who are teaching exactly what you want to learn.
9 Best Apps For Bass Players
Pitchlab Chromatic Tuner
Pitchlab chromatic tuner is hands down the best chromatic tuner I have come across. The basic version is free to use but if you want more features, you will want to get the pro version.
The mobile app works for both Android and iOs, and when you run the app, you will find a simple interface that shows you the notes being played. I prefer to use chromatic tuners over other kinds as I can see what notes are being played.
This can be very helpful if you need to get the bends in tune as well as figure out the key of a song super easily. Pitchlab is lightweight, takes up very little memory, and is a dumbed-down tuner with just the essentials.
You will have no issues tuning to drop D or any other tuning, and while it doesn’t feature interactive games or theory lessons, it does what it’s supposed to- it works like a charm for tuning bass guitars or any other stringed instrument!
GuitarTab
If you’re on the lookout for an app that offers plenty of tabs and chords for bass guitarists, you will find the GuitarTab app a fantastic choice. The app is available for both iOs and Android, and the instruments supported are bass, guitar, and drums.
What I like most about the app is how intuitive the app is, and the fact that you also get a full-screen view and zooming as well, so you can easily see the tabs and chords shown on your screen. For a beginner, I think it’s even more helpful- as you will see the chord diagrams being shown.
You also get to save your favorite tabs in the favorites pane, which can be very handy to look up later. While Pitchlab focuses on getting you to pay for a subscription to gain access to advanced features, you can get started using the GuitarTab app without any hassles.
Overall, I think GuitarTab is a fantastic app for any bassist that shows tabs and chords to songs you may want to learn.
Fender Play
Fender Play is one of the best premium apps on the market if you need a reliable app for your music needs. Fender is also one of the more popular brands and manufacturers of the leading instruments in the music industry, so they certainly know what they’re talking about.
The best part about Fender Play is- it works great for bass, guitar as well as ukulele, and you can get started on it as an absolute beginner and learn something in your free time.
The lessons are interactive and well-paced and you won’t leave with incorrect information. Pair that with high-quality lessons from multiple camera angles and decent audio recordings, and you will dig the experience.
When trying to learn an instrument, one of the major hurdles you will face is the fact that you lack a clear structure. Youtube is full of lessons, but without a clear schedule, you will get nowhere. Fender Play aims to bridge this gap by providing a clear and feasible schedule you can adapt to your own progress on the bass.
The only thing that might be a turnoff is the price- but it’s fairly cheaper than in-person lessons, and if you stick to it, you can surely see some progress in a matter of days.
GuitarTuna
If you are looking for an app to tune up many instruments, you will love using GuitarTuna. The app is free to install and use the basic features but you will find in-app purchases if you want to use more features.
You can also tune ukulele and guitar with this handy app- so you don’t need to worry about forgetting tuners for your gigs. It’s also one of the best tuning apps on the market, so you should definitely try it.
The technology GuitarTuna uses is intelligent enough to filter out any background noise and the pitches shown are very accurate. You will also find interactive chord diagrams and fun games to test your knowledge of your instrument.
The app is available for both Android and iOs, and the fact that Apple chose this app for Editor’s Choice twice in 2015 just makes it a fantastic choice for a tuner.
Chordbot Lite
In my opinion, playing over a beat is the fastest ways to get better at playing bass or pretty much any instument. You get in a groove, improvise over the existing harmony and melodies, and get a sense of how music works, what notes sound good and what sounds like crap.
Ideally, you will want to have a friend on another instrument but if you don’t have any friends or just want an app that can do this for you, chordbot lite is a fantastic tool that will generate nice loops for you to play along with.
The best thing about this app is- you get plenty of instruments including piano, keyboard, ukulele, synth, rhodes and drums, and you can also play around with the rhythm patterns, dynamics, as well as save the parts for future reference.
You do need the pro version to export the output sounds but if you just want an app for practicing scales or playing along with a metronome, this app is hard to beat. Chordbot Lite is way better than playing with a boring beat anyways.
Real Bass
Thanks to Kolb Apps, there is a fantastic app on the market called Real Bass that provides free bass lessons on both iOs and Android. Not only is the app friendly and intuitive to use, but it also offers loops and a variety of instruments including acoustic and electric guitars.
I am not a big fan of instrument simulators but you do get an interactive bass on the screen so you can see where to place your hands, and how the strings are meant to be played. It’s no substitute for a real instrument but you can supplement learning on the bass with this app to grow at a much faster pace.
You get access to 6 different loops, and quality recordings of bass ,and instruments and the recording quality on this are also quite good. You don’t need to pay to export mp3 which seems to be a sneaky way for some apps out there to ask for money.
Overall, I think it’s an app worth trying out. Since it’s free and offers plenty of features, you will definitely enjoy the experience.
Learn To Play The Bass
Available on the Google Play Store, Learn to Play the Bass is a fully free app that offers nice video lessons so you can learn and master bass songs on your instrument.
What I like most about this app is the fact that the videos are provided with footage shot from multiple angles, and closeups when necessary. You can supplement the lessons with a metronome, and you can play along with the footage to make sure that you are improving.
Once you are done mastering a song, you can choose another song to learn and thus, build a repertoire of bass songs.
The app also has tailored lessons for left-handed bassists which is something you won’t find on most apps out there. For nothing to pay at all, this app is certainly one of the best apps out there.
Semitone – Music Education by Duncan Gillespie
As a bass player, knowing music theory is something you cannot avoid. Not only does it help you build your own chords and formulate melodies on the fretboard, but it also helps you know why things sound the way they do. Ear training and music theory go hand in hand, so you will find your ear skills improving as well.
The app won’t help you with learning notation and rhythm but it does help you learn about intervals, chords, and scales. Knowing the basics of piano won’t hurt as well, so you will find the app very useful.
Ultimately, this app will help you drill the basics of intervals, chord constructions, and scale characteristics, as well as improvising with others, which is exactly what you should focus on as a beginner. If you’re an absolute beginner, you will find learning actual songs more helpful than learning scales and theory, but if you’re more on the intermediate side and want to know more about music and improvising, music theory is going to be a huge asset for you.
It’s only available on iOs which is sad for Android users out there but if you’ve got an Apple device, the app works like a charm.
Rhythm Trainer
If you are a beginner on the bass, or pretty much any other instrument, you need to know about rhythms to sound more interesting, and to play songs without much effort. The Rhythm Trainer is a fantastic app for both iOs and Android, and the lessons start slow and easy and gradually get harder.
The way it works is pretty simple- the app plays something for you- and you have to tap that rhythm on the screen. The app detects your rhythm and if it matches, you progress to the next lesson. The lessons are fun and interactive, and it’s a super easy way to get used to the rhythms used in all sorts of songs.
The app is available for free but it has a 15-minute per day limit which you can bypass by getting the premium version. If you would like to have something to look forward to every day, the slow-paced lessons are great. But if you would like to quickly practice the rhythms and improve your sense of time quickly, you can opt for the subscription.
Should You Try Digital Instrument Simulator?
There are also many apps that will simulate instruments for you on the phone. I think these don’t have much of a utility for anybody serious about learning the instrument.
Think about this- why you would want to learn on something that looks like the real thing, only to re-learn the same things on an actual thing? It seems like a waste of time to me. If you are going to learn the bass guitar, you may as well pick up an actual bass as opposed to an app that has shown four strings on the screen.
Learning on an actual instrument has many perks- you get to experience the feeling of hitting physical strings, the sound is just nicer, and you are playing with some technique.
Unless you are trying to get a child interested in parlor tricks, I would highly recommend getting an actual instrument
Final Thoughts
Apps are not only a handy way to learn new things on our smartphones but you will find that they can also prove to be efficient ways to get tricky concepts down. Tuner, rhythm, and theory apps can be very helpful if you cannot afford to get lessons and would like to improve your knowledge of music.
Done right you can absolutely get better at improvisation and accompanying other instruments. I like using a tuner I can keep in my pockets, but you can just as easily use one on your phone to tune up your bass. GuitarTuna, Pitchlab, and ChordBot Lite are apps I have personally used for tuning and playing a loop as a backing track.
From a convenience point of view, smartphone apps have helped make our lives more convenient, and I certainly hope they can help musicians in the future as well.
You may also like my post on the best lightweight bass guitars for beginners. If this post has been helpful to you, please consider bookmarking our site: the shortcut is Ctrl + D.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Guitar Tricks help with bass?
Guitar Tricks does have lessons for piano and you can sing along with it but last I checked, there weren’t any resources for bass guitar. So, you cannot learn bass with it though you may be able to learn theory on piano with Guitar Tricks.
Does Yousician have bass?
Yes, yousician is an interactive music learning platform and it has lessons on bass along with guitar and many other instruments. You can get started for free but you will want to get a subscription in order to unlock more playing time.
Is bass easier to learn than the guitar?
Yes. Most bassists agree that bass songs are easier than guitar not just because there are fewer strings but also because you don’t need to learn chords on the bass guitar, at least, not until you can play a couple of songs with just single notes. The frets are farther apart, so playing fast might be an issue, but for kids and young players, bass is super easy.
What makes a good bass player?
There are many things bass players can do that makes a subtle difference. While an average bassist would just lay down the groove along with the drums, a great bassist can actually help compose melodies and make the songs feel a certain way. Flea is a great example, and you may want to play fewer notes and stick to the low-end if you want to contribute as a good bassist.