8 Great Rhythm Training Apps and Websites (2024)
When you’re a musician, keeping up with the rhythm of a song is essential. It’s a no-brainer to practice your rhythm and train your ears and muscle memory to keep up with different rhythms.
In this article we are going to present you with 8 useful rhythm training apps and websites, so you can train easily on your phone or computer.
Contents
1. Rhythm Trainer
Get it on: Google Play | iOS App Store
We start off with this great app for rhythm training. It works simply – you listen to the rhythm that the app plays, and then you have to tap it out on the screen of your phone or tablet correctly to move forward.
In this way, you don’t just practice your ears to listen to the rhythm, but you are also practicing how to play the rhythm, which is just as important as listening to it.
This app is available on both iOS and Android platforms and has a free version, where you get a 15-minute per-day training session. This is enough to give you a slow learning curve or to help you practice every day, but if you want to practice more, you have to pay a monthly subscription.
Lessons start off with basic beats, but as you progress, you get to work on more and more complex rhythms, preparing you for the most complicated of music.
2. therhythmtrainer.com
This is a beautiful, simple website that allows you to practice your rhythms wherever you are. It has two working modes, where you can choose to either listen to the beat and write it down or see a written beat and choose a correct sound from multiple choices that appear.
This way, you are practicing your ears whilst learning rhythm notation, expanding your knowledge even further.
The best thing about this website is that it is a) completely free and b) available on every computer, tablet, mobile phone, platform, and so on. In this day and age, it does look rather simplistic and ugly, to be honest, but it’s working like a charm, so don’t be put off by the appearance!
3. Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer
Get it on: iOS App Store
If you’re interested in some of the more “serious” music, reading spreadsheets is a must for you. This includes reading different tempos at a glance and playing the notes accordingly. Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer is a great app for iOS users, through which you can practice your reading and listening skills for rhythms.
This is a completely free app, and it includes different practices. You’ll find more than 200 fixed exercises and thousands of random ones. These cover all of the major and minor rhythms found in music and gradually go from simpler to harder ones. Also, you’ll get to learn and practice rests, syncopations, triplets, and other more complex stuff as you go along.
4. Complete Rhythm Trainer
Get it on: Google Play
When you get tired of all prehistoric-looking apps and rhythm trainers, CRT is there to give you new hope.
This beautifully designed app is a classic rhythm trainer app through which you get 252 progressive drills, which are for the most part randomly generated, so you can practice over and over again without fearing that it will get repetitive.
This app is available on Android and Huawei platforms, with the iOS version announced by the end of 2020.
You can get it for free, but this version is very limited and only gives you a glance at what this app can do. To get full-access, you have to pay a one-time price, which is really a bargain for an app this beautifully designed and versatile.
5. Polyrhythm – Poly Metronome
Get it on: Google Play | iOS App Store
Learning how to play simple rhythms is one thing, but tackling polyrhythms? It’s a feat not many musicians ever try to learn properly.
But for the ones that do, there is a need for a training app to make it all at least a bit easier since it’s already complicated.
This is just a metronome app, which features two simultaneous metronomes playing at once. You can change the rate at which both go easily as well as the tempo or simply tap beat into it to find out what that rhythm is called.
It’s not a trainer app per se, but it will make it much easier for you to learn how different polyrhythms sound and to get you to practice them with standard analog rhythm practices with metronomes. The app is available on both Android and iOS platforms.
6. Perfect Ear
Get it on: Google Play
Perfect Ear is one of the most versatile and packed apps on this list. Perfect Ear is not just a rhythm trainer but an all-around music theory teacher.
It will provide you with ear training exercises, rhythm training, music theory lessons, solfege lessons, and note reading lessons. All of this is needed if you want to make it as a musician or just learn to play properly.
This app is beautifully designed and easy to use. It’s recommended by music teachers all over the world, especially for children, because it’s so vast and covers so many topics. But don’t be fooled if you’re a bit older – this is not a child’s game.
It’s a full tutoring course for music beginners and, as such, it’s perfect. It’s available on both iOS and Android and is free to use, with in-app purchases available. It’s also easy to connect to your piano or guitar, giving you an easy way to practice your instrument through this app.
7. RhythmLock
Get it on: iOS App Store
Another useful rhythm app is RhythmLock, which helps musicians develop their ability to better divide, or subdivide beats by providing a play-along groove and simple visual aids for a better overall rhythmic learning experience.
The app is like a video game with different levels to unlock and complete as you go through it. Each level indicates that you’ve improved your rhythm chops and are ready to advance further.
The app is available for iOS on the app store and is a very fun and addictive experience that surely all will enjoy.
8. 4four.io
4four.io is a free rhythm training platform with a very simple display and straightforward navigation. The platform is accessible through your PC or your phone and does not require a Flash Player which is a load off of anyone’s mind.
As far as complexity and navigation, it is pretty easy to use and can be quite helpful.
It’s a fantastic alternative to other forms of rhythm training that you will find interesting and exciting.
How to practice rhythm?
Practicing rhythms is very important for any musician. If you’re playing out of rhythm, your performance is going to sound bad, no matter whether you’re playing the right notes or not.
To get your tempo right, you should always start with the basics. This means that you should practice easy rhythms first, playing in only one octave and some familiar keys. This way, you can learn the basics easily and get them to stick in your head before moving on to the more complex stuff.
For other tips about rhythm practice, you can always slow the tempo to get the rhythm right and then gradually bring it back to the full speed needed to be played in a piece of music. Dividing the beat in your head when counting and practicing on different instruments is also a great way to learn how to keep your rhythm in every possible situation.
Summary
Rhythm training should be fun and easy, so don’t force yourself. Always use the tools available to improve your skills, especially the Internet that offers many great ways to practice.
There are many rhythm training methods, but you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. Don’t forget that music is a way to express yourself – do not try to learn it as if it were an exam.
And if you don’t want to pay for apps, games, or lessons, you can always record yourself and listen back to get better and improve. Don’t be afraid of mistakes: instead, learn from them and use them to become a better musician!
Good luck!
