Chords for iTunes, a far cry from tape and paper
July 21st, 2009When I was first learning to play guitar in 1984, I had a teacher that made an indelible impression on me. He taught me to play songs using a very simple method. He would type out the lyrics of a song and write out the chord names above the words where the chords should occur. Every week, my mom would drive me 45 minutes to his house to have a lesson. We would spend the first 30 minutes of the hour lesson going through the previous week’s material, learning some theory, and practicing some techniques, and then we would go through the part of the experience I always looked forward to. He would walk me through a new song with the new chords, the strumming pattern and the changes. While he was playing the song, he would put a blank tape into his cassette recorder and record himself playing and singing the song while I watched and listened. Then he would produce a sheet of paper containing the lyrics and chords for a song and walk me through, step-by-step, exactly how he played the song. I would then leave each lesson with a cassette of his performance and a new sheet of paper containing the lyrics with the chord symbols above the words where the chord changes should occur. I would keep this sheet of paper in a 3-ringed binder with all the songs from previous lessons, and I even had a little cassette holder on the inside cover of the first leaf of the binder where I would hold the cassette of his recordings (it was a prerequisite that I provide the blank tape for his performances). I treated that binder like gold, because I knew it was special, unique, and something that had taken tremendous effort to produce.
This was well before the age of the internet, and even well before the time when electronic typewriters were cheap, so I’m guessing that his process for creating each “song sheet” would be to a) buy the song on vinyl or cassette, b) listen to the song, rewind and pause as necessary, and transcribe each word onto the typed page (using white out as necessary to correct mistakes) double spaced, then c) listen to the song, rewind and pause as necessary, and transcribe each chord onto the typed page (using white out as necessary to correct mistakes). Since he must have had at least 20 students, he would probably then take this piece of paper down to the local copier (well before the time of inexpensive Xerox machines or even Kinkos) and ask to have 20 copies made. 25 years later, I can only guess at how my guitar teacher would react (he has since passed away) to the service that we launched last month.
The service is called Chords for iTunes, and it is the first service of its kind to synchronize the chords, music and lyrics to your favorite iTunes songs and present them on video for easy playback and learning. There are many free websites out there where you can find lyrics and chords for a song printed on a web page, however with these sites you never really know if the chords are accurate. In addition, to follow along with the printed lyrics and chords, you need to have downloaded an audio file separately through iTunes or some other means in order to be able to listen to the song while you’re playing along to the visuals. 25 years ago, my first guitar teacher solved this issue with the cassette tape and sheet music combination, and with what’s available for free today on the internet, the solution is not that much better. In fact, one could argue that it is worse, since the chords are often inaccurate and do not reference any audio.
Enter, Chords for iTunes on the Mac. We designed the service with the aim of delivering the essential components that every aspiring musician needs to be inspired (i.e. the part I looked forward to for the second half of each of my guitar lessons) and to continue to come back for more. In addition to synchronizing each chord and lyric change with the iTunes versions of songs, we have three other features that enhance and deepen the experience of making music. We have a speed controller, that allows you to slow down the tempo of the song while maintaining pitch, so you can learn and play at your own pace (try that on a cassette recorder!). We also have an Export button, so you can send each Chord video out to your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV, so you can literally play and learn anytime, anywhere. Finally, you can export these videos to GarageBand and play along, so you can take advantage of the GarageBand amp models or lay down your original tracks at any time.
If there is anyone that truly “gets” the whole concept of Chords for iTunes, it is our friend Bob ”Dr. Mac” LeVitus. He wrote a great column in the Houston Chronicle today that truly represents the essence of what we attempted to achieve with Chords for iTunes. I’ve heard some refer to the service as Guitar Hero for Real Guitar, and after reading Bob’s review and watching his video, I completely understand the comparison. Just like Guitar Hero, the Chords for iTunes service challenges you to play along in sync to the original music from iTunes. If you know a few chords, you can jam to the real song in real time. And if you’re learning, you can use the playback control to play along at your own speed.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can download the iPlayMusic application here:
25 years. It’s been a while since the days of cassette tapes and Xerox machines, and I think my guitar teacher would be proud.
Quincy