Using the Music Trainer Phrase Editor

The Phrase editor screen lets you identify interesting parts of a song like a cool lick, solo, turn around, ... You can give each phrase a name and save them so that you can use them during your next practice session

The Title Bar

The title bar displays the title of the song you working on. In example screen snap shot shown above, the song title is "Sen-Sa-Shun" (any Freddie King fans out there?)

Naming the Phrase

tapping inside the name phrase name field brings up a standard iPhone/iTouch keyboard. Use it to give your phrase a meaningfull name. Press the 'done' button to dismiss the keyboard.

Changing the phrase end points

you can set the end points by either moving the start and stop icons or by using the time picker

Using the sliders

Slide the green start or red stop icons left and right to change the begin and end points. As you slide the icons you will notice the time displayed in the "Begin:" or the "End:" field will change. Time is displayed as "min:sec:1/100". All phrases must be at least one second long, with the beginning time before the end time. You will hear "pong" sound if you try to move the end points past the end of the scales or try to make the end time before the start time.

Using the time picker

Tapping the time buttons will bring up a picker. In this example the start time button is labeled "00:46:08". The end time button is labeled "01:30:58". The picker makes it really easy to move the phrase end point exactly where you want it for super smooth looping

Testing the Phrase

Use the test button to see if the end points are where you want them. If you are happy with your phrase press the save button. Use the stop button to end the play back.

Tips and Tricks

1. A quick way to find the rough end points
   1. play the song
   2. when you get to the end point, press pause
   3. notice the time displayed on the left side of the progress bar
   4. move the start or end icon till so that the time button displays the same time
2. Move the Cueing Knob on the progress bar to quickly search for the beginning or end of your phrase
3. You may find it faster to define the end of the phrase first. Move the start icon around until you find the end of the loop. Then move the end to this point. Now move the start around until you find the true beginning of the phrase.
4. For the best results, do not move the start or end buttons during play back. Moving the buttons will not take effect until you press stop.
5. It can be really hard to get loops to be perfectly square. You may get better results by defining the phrase so it starts a little before and plays a little after the actual section of the song you are interested in. If you are looping the phrase, this will give you a little time to collect your thoughts so you are on beat.
6. See Selecting Songs and Phrase for help about using phrases

Have Questions, Comments or Suggestions?