Jamzone Backing Tracks App Review

What Is Jamzone?

So if you’re not already familiar with Jamzone, this is an app that provides high quality backing tracks for TONS of songs for you to play along with.  The chords and lyrics will scroll by as the song plays, you have a mixer to mute, enable and mix any tracks as you like – so if you’re playing the piano part and singing you can mute the piano and vocals and just play along with the band, so . . . super cool.  Now the tracks that Jamzone provides are REALLY high quality; these are recorded by actual HUMAN professional studio musicians . . .  these are NOT just . . . cheesy computer generated tracks.  And their library is HUGE with over 67,000 tracks as of the time of this review, and they are adding new tracks all the time. 

Once you have a song loaded, you can:

• easily loop certain sections of the song over and over (so you can practice a difficult section, or even modify the arrangement by only including certain sections)
• tell Jamzone what YOUR instrument is, and be able to see how to finger/play chords for piano, guitar, ukulele, etc, AND there is even a capo feature for guitar!
• choose what instruments, vocals etc. to include/mute
• adjust relative volume between each of the individual instrument/vocal tracks
• adjust the tempo up or down
• adjust the key signature up or down / transpose (note that if you are using the included vocals they can sound “chipmunky” or super-bass’y if you adjust the key up or down alot)
• display beginner / intermediate / advanced versions of chords (great for beginners and for those performing live that take requests for songs they’re not familiar with)

Best Way To Check Out Jamzone? WATCH MY YOUTUBE REVIEW 🙂

This app is super cool, and there really are a ton of features that are best described with a video demo’ing the app, instead of making you read and look at pictures. So I’d highly recommend heading to my YouTube review (or just go straight to Jamzone and grab the free version and check it out!)

Subscription Levels

• Free: limits you to basically the free  “public domain” songs so, Christmas carols, traditional songs . . . there are a couple of rock songs in there though, La Bamba and House Of The Rising Sun
• Premium: full access to Jamzone’s entire catalog, and a couple more features than Free
• Pro: full access to Jamzone’s entire catalog, and a BUNCH more features, including licensing to use Jamzone’s tracks live, a higher quality audio output, and some super cool other features like audio routing and mixing in audio OR MIDI instruments right into Jamzone!

What Platforms Are Available?

The app works on iPads, iPhones, Apple computers, Android phones and tablets, and can run on a Windows computer if you have an Android emulator installed; FYI, I use Jamzone with an iPad.   At the time of this review, you needed iOS 15 or later on apple devices, macOS12 or later on Apple computers, or Android 8 or later to run the app, but you can check Jamzone’s website to confirm whether your device is compatible.

How Do You Get Started?

Just head over to Jamzone, and download the app and get started! You can try the free version first if you want, or just dive into a monthly premiere subscription to check out the entire massive library of tunes – you can cancel at any time, so it really is worth a look.

As you accumulate songs in your library, you can organize them into “sets” if you like. This is an awesome feature whether you are actually using Jamzone for backing during actual gigs, or whether you just want to organize your library / practice sessions. When you do that, you will see a song navigation feature appear in the top left (and also at the end of a song) to allow you to quickly go to the next song in the set.

The Verdict – Jamzone Backing Track App

So, the verdict on Jamzone?  WOW!  I loved this app when I first started using it way back in 2020, but I have to say, there have been a TON of improvements made, and tons of content added, so:

Super impressed, and HIGHLY recommended!  

When I first had the app, it was a “pay per track” system instead of a monthly subscription, and when they switched a couple of years ago to a subscription model, I was a bit skeptical at first, and didn’t subscribe right away.   But a few months ago, I needed to learn a bunch of new cover songs quickly for a band, so I went ahead and subscribed . . . and after a month or so, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been subscribed the whole time.   I use Jamzone EVERY SINGLE DAY!  Sometimes I’m using it to practice songs for my band, and sometimes I’m customizing tracks to start using Jamzone in smaller stage performances with a singer that I’m starting to prepare for.   But aside from learning and practicing songs and using it in performances, I started using Jamzone for something else, and I do THIS everyday . . . I would go to the explore window, and quickly browse through the New or Popular lists, and then just pick a song, and not necessarily a song I really like or even know . . . and try to play it.  Just as if you showed up to a band practice or a gig and someone handed you a chord chart and said “here . . . play THIS”.   Doing this has become part of my daily practice routine.   And that’s the other thing Jamzone offers – FUN!   

Now as far as the subscriptions go?  Jamzone’s recommendations are right on the money – use the free one to check it out, use the Premiere one if you’re just using it at home to learn and practice songs, and get the Pro version if you’re going to use Jamzone live.  And it is monthly, so you can change your subscription level if you like. 

To Check Out Jamzone, Click The Jamzone Logo Below And Start Jamming!

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Piano Training I Recommend

I’ve taken a number of online piano courses; the ones I’m listing here are my favorites and I can highly recommend any of these if you are looking for some online training to get started on learning piano, or to take your current skills to the next level.