Capo 3The Apple Design Award-winning Capo has long been an excellent app for those looking to learn and improve their guitar-playing abilities, but the new version adds a significant new feature to help learn individual songs.

Capo 3 can automatically detect chords and let's users create guitar tablature -- musical notes -- from songs in the iTunes library in order to help guitar players quickly learn songs.

Capo 3 is a revolutionary tool that helps you learn the music in your iTunes library. By slowing your music, automatically detecting chords and quickly generating guitar tablature using the detailed spectrogram, Capo 3’s award-winning capabilities let you learn to play your songs faster than ever.

Capo will change the way you learn to play music. The audio-to-note approach will soon seem so natural to you that you will no longer regard your favorite bands’ music as inaccessible to play yourself. You can learn to play any music you have as a recorded audio file, whether an mp3, m4a, wav, or aiff file. This is the future of learning to play music. It’s no wonder Capo won a prestigious Apple Design Award.


Capo 3 is available from the Mac App Store for $29.99. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

drummingcraig Avatar
152 months ago
Does anyone know of an app like this...but for drums?

Lessons. :D
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Carlanga Avatar
152 months ago
what kind of sorcery is this!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nunyabinez Avatar
152 months ago
I find this highly unlikely. I'm sure that for a solo guitar piece it is possible to generate some kind of tab, but for music that has multiple guitar parts playing simultaneously, how on earth would software detect what is going on? Also, as anyone here who actually plays guitar knows, the same note can be played in many different locations on a guitar. How would it figure out exactly where on the neck it is being played?

This is not trivial because something can be easy to play in one position and mind-bogglingly difficult in a different position.

Maybe I am underestimating what this software can do. If it can do what they make it sound like it can do, it would be worth much more that what they are charging.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Benguitar Avatar
152 months ago
Very cool if it actually works!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
till213 Avatar
152 months ago
I find this highly unlikely. I'm sure that for a solo guitar piece it is possible to generate some kind of tab, but for music that has multiple guitar parts playing simultaneously, how on earth would software detect what is going on?

You should get yourself updated about what is possible these days with spectrum/beat/whatever analysis, e.g. this product:

http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=melodyne

(a well-respected tool in the professional music industry).

Also, as anyone here who actually plays guitar knows, the same note can be played in many different locations on a guitar. How would it figure out exactly where on the neck it is being played?

I - as a guitar player myself ;) - can only suspect that they have some "guitar patterns" ("expert knowledge") programmed in, so they'd figure out if e.g. a A (with a certain frequency) is played, followed by a C and G or whatever, then they are able to figure out the harmony and where (on which "location") to play this best.

Just a guess, though...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bradl Avatar
152 months ago
Wow, damn cool!

If only they'd had this app (and personal computers!) when I was a teenager learning guitar.

On one side, I'd agree..

But on the other side, it sorta takes the fun out of learning a song, as part of it is getting it down by ear. And that also helps with tuning by ear. Thanks to listening to songs over and over, I can tell just by listening to it not only the key of that song, but how the guitar might be tuned.

Either way, I just may get this if not just to figure out some of the overdubs put onto some songs.

BL.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Glass

Apple Smart Glasses: Everything We Know So Far

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:21 am PDT by
Google recently made waves by showcasing a set of lightweight smart glasses featuring deep Gemini integration and an optional in-lens display. The demo has reignited interest in Apple's own smart glasses project, which has been the subject of rumors for nearly a decade. Here's a recap of where things stand. Current Development Status Apple is actively working on new chips specifically...
Apple Glasses Purple Feature

Apple Smart Glasses Launching in 2026

Thursday May 22, 2025 12:22 pm PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a set of smart glasses by the end of 2026, reports Bloomberg. The glasses will be comparable to the Meta Ray-Bans and the Android XR glasses that Google showed off earlier this week. Apple's smart glasses are expected to include cameras, microphones, and AI capabilities, much like the Meta Ray-Bans. The glasses will be able to take photos, record video, provide...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
maxresdefault

OpenAI Buys Jony Ive's AI Startup to 'Completely Reimagine What It Means to Use a Computer'

Wednesday May 21, 2025 10:27 am PDT by
OpenAI is acquiring io, the hardware-based AI startup co-created by Jony Ive, OpenAI announced today. Ive has been working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on io for two years, and the duo expects to develop a family of AI devices. In a video shared by OpenAI, Altman and Ive outlined their partnership and what they expect to create as a result of the merger. "I have a growing sense that everything ...
iPod shuffle generations

Kuo: Jony Ive's Futuristic OpenAI Device Like a Neck-Worn iPod Shuffle

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
The big news in the technology world this week is that ChatGPT maker OpenAI is working more closely with Apple's former design chief Jony Ive on a futuristic AI device. The company is remaining tight lipped about the device, but Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shared some alleged details about its design. In a social media post today, Kuo said the device will be "slightly larger" ...
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...