Picker’s Guide Tools
Looper
Press Record — four beats count you in.
That’s the 30-second preview
The full looper — unlimited playback, as many takes as you want — is part of Picker’s Guide membership, along with the practice player and sampled backing bands for the whole bluegrass song catalog.
Try everything free for 14 daysA loop that actually repeats in time
Most of what makes a looper useful is one detail: where the loop ends. Stop a recording by hand and you are always a fraction of a second early or late, so every pass drifts a little further out and the thing you are practising over slowly stops being in time.
This one counts you in, and cuts the loop on the beat rather than on your button press. Set the tempo first, hit Record, wait out the four-beat count-in, and play. Press stop whenever you like: the phrase comes back trimmed to whole beats, and it repeats seamlessly for as long as you want to play over it. If it came out a beat long or a beat short, the plus and minus buttons fix that by exactly one beat.
Keeping the click out of your recording
The count-in clicks so you know where beat one is. With headphones on, that click stays out of your microphone and your loop is just you. If you would rather play in the open, turn the audible clicks off and the count-in counts you in visually instead, so your microphone only ever hears the instrument.
What to use it for
- Solo over your own backup. Record eight bars of rhythm, then take a break over it. It is the closest thing to a jam when there is nobody else in the room.
- Drill a change. Loop the two bars where the chord change keeps catching you and play them until they stop being a decision.
- Hear your own timing. Playing a lick against a loop of yourself is an unforgiving and very fast way to find out whether you rush.
- Work out an arrangement. Put down the shape of a tune and try a second part over the top before you commit to it.
Nothing to buy, nothing to install
A looper pedal is a fine thing to own and a slow thing to get to. This one is a web page: the microphone capture, the beat-snapping and the playback all happen in the browser tab, which is why it works the same on the laptop at the kitchen table and the phone in your case pocket. Your audio is never uploaded, never saved to a server, and closing the tab discards the loop.
Part of a bigger practice room
The looper works with whatever you play into it. For bluegrass specifically, Picker’s Guide members mostly do not need to record their own backup: every song in the catalog comes with a sampled backing band, the chart and lyrics, section looping tied to the real form of the song, and practice tracking. Membership gets you the full looper along with all of that. The preview here gives you 30 seconds of loop playback so you can hear it work first.
Questions about the Looper
How does an online looper work?
Set the tempo, press Record, and play your phrase after the four-beat count-in. Press Stop and the phrase comes straight back as a seamless loop, cut exactly on the beat rather than wherever you happened to stop playing. Then play over it as many times as you like. It runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install and no pedal to buy.
Why is my loop cut on the beat instead of where I stopped?
The count-in sets the grid, and the loop is sliced at the beat rather than at your button press, so it repeats in time instead of drifting a fraction of a second every pass. If the loop came out a beat long or a beat short, the plus and minus buttons trim or extend it by exactly one beat.
Do I need headphones?
Headphones keep the count-in clicks out of your recording, which is the cleanest result. If you would rather play in the open, turn off the audible clicks and the count-in counts you in visually instead, so your microphone only hears you.
Is my recording uploaded anywhere?
No. Your microphone audio is captured and looped entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to a server, nothing is saved, and closing the tab discards the loop.
What can I practice with a looper?
Record a rhythm part and solo over your own backup, which is the closest thing to a jam when nobody is around. Loop a chord change you keep fumbling and drill it. Record a lick and play it back against itself to hear whether your timing is really where you think it is.
Do I need an account to use it?
You can record a loop and hear it play back for 30 seconds without one. The full looper is part of Picker’s Guide membership, which also gets you the practice player and sampled backing bands for the whole bluegrass song catalog.
