Looping
Loop part of a song until your hands know it.
Pick out the phrase you're working on and Capo loops it, landing right on the beat every time. Count yourself in, play along with the recording at a speed you can handle, and nudge it faster as it comes together.
Learn more and try the Free Edition
Metronome vs. Capo
Practice the feel, too
A metronome ticks with machine precision. Real players don't—they lay back, push ahead, swing. Loop the phrase, and you're practicing their feel along with the tempo.
A click that stays with the players
Want a click too? Capo's metronome plays on the beats it found in the recording, so it stays locked to the players even when their tempo wanders.
Hear it, then play it back
A metronome can keep you steady, but it can't remind you what to play. Call & Response plays the phrase, then goes quiet so you can play it back from memory.
Capo is an invaluable learning tool. I use it to loop hard phrases, and slow them down with very few artifacts, making them easy to master!
I've been using Capo quite a bit to slow down music and decipher what's happening in my favorite songs. That's how I would pick up music when I was younger: I would slow down vinyl to figure out what they were doing. Now you can actually loop it and keep the original key of the song!
Capo allows me to slow things down and to loop, and also with the pitch and speed quality it's incredible.
Guitarist for Chris Cornell, Courtney Love
Chromeo
Drummer for Santana, George Duke, Mike Stern
Practicing with a loop
Mark the passage once, and Capo handles the rest: every repeat lands on the beat, there's a count-in when you want one, and the speed stays wherever you set it until you choose to push it.
-
Loops that land on the beat
Mark the phrase, and its edges snap to the nearest beat, so every repeat comes back around in time with no hiccup at the seam. Set up as many loops as the song needs, jump between them, and adjust one while it's playing.
-
Count yourself in
A count-in of one, two, or four bars gives you time to get your hands in place before the loop starts. Keep the click going through the loop, or let it drop out once you're in.
-
Speed up when you're ready
Start the loop at a speed you can play cleanly, then nudge it up as it comes together—all the way to full speed, or past it to 150%. You decide when you're ready.
Call & Response
Call & Response turns your loop into a conversation. On one pass, the recording plays the phrase: that's the call. On the next, it goes quiet and you play it back: that's the response. Then the recording comes back in, and you hear how close you got.
When you play over the top of a recording, it's hard to hear yourself. Taking turns fixes that. You listen to the phrase with your full attention, then play it with nothing in the way, working from your memory of how it goes—the same skill you lean on every time you learn a song by ear.
Before you loop
Looping is for practicing a part you've already worked out: the timing, the feel, the speed. It's not a good way to find the notes. Every time the loop comes around, it piles new notes on top of the ones you're trying to remember.
So Capo covers that stage too. Get the chords for any song in seconds. Use the Transcription Playhead to replay a phrase from the same spot as many times as you need, then stop and find it on your instrument in peace. Once you've got the notes, loop it and start practicing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I loop part of a song from Spotify or Apple Music?
No. Streaming tracks are protected by DRM, which stops apps like Capo from playing them. Capo works on audio files you own—MP3, WAV, AIFF, M4A, FLAC, and DRM-free purchases from iTunes, Bandcamp, or Qobuz—plus anything you've ripped from your CD collection.
Is looping free?
Yes. The Free Edition includes looping, Call & Response, the metronome, and count-in, with no time limit. It doesn't save your loops between sessions, but they snap into place as you mark them, so setting one up again takes a moment.
Does it work on Mac, iPhone, and iPad?
Yes, and looping works the same way on all three, Call & Response included.
Can I change how quiet Call & Response gets?
Yes. Call & Response plays the phrase, then goes quiet while you play it back. That quiet stretch is silent by default, but you can raise the level if you'd like to hear a faint guide under your playing.
Can I keep a metronome going while I loop?
Yes. Capo's metronome plays on the beats it found in the recording, so it stays with the players rather than holding a fixed tempo. If a constant click is too much, set it to play the count-in only.
What if a loop doesn't line up with the beat?
You have two options. For a quick fix, adjust the loop's edges with snapping turned off: hold Shift while you drag on the Mac, or move your finger above or below the handle on iPhone and iPad. If the beats are off across the whole song, correct the beat grid instead, and new loops will snap to the fixed grid.
How do I loop part of a song on a Mac or iPhone?
Open the song in Capo, mark the part you want as a region, and press play. Capo loops it until you stop. The user guide covers the details for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Start with the hard part
