Loopdrill
Download
Learn a guitar solo by ear with A–B loops
A practical transcription routine: hear the rhythm, isolate a phrase, check its notes, then reconnect it to the solo.
Listen before moving your fingers
Hear the complete solo once. Choose a phrase you can hum rather than treating the entire solo as one assignment. Clap or tap its rhythm separately from the pitches.
Write down what is uncertain: the first note, a slide, an offbeat entrance or the length of a held note. That gives the next loop a concrete question to answer.
Leave space around the phrase
Put A slightly before the entrance and B after the final note decays. A loop cut exactly on the attack can hide the cue you need to enter on time.
If a transition is the problem, include the last notes of the previous phrase. A tiny loop can reveal one note, but a wider loop is needed to learn how it connects.
Find notes, then test the rhythm
Lower the speed until the notes are distinguishable. Hum the contour, locate the first note on your instrument and test the remaining intervals. Return to listening whenever fingering starts replacing attention to the recording.
Once the notes are plausible, compare accents and note lengths. EQ can help expose a frequency range in imported files, but it is not instrument separation and is unavailable for Apple Music playback.
Move through the solo deliberately
Previous and next section move the current A–B interval by its own duration. They do not discover the next musical phrase or bar. After moving, adjust the boundaries to match what you hear.
Save useful practice points and finish by playing the phrase with its neighbors at normal speed. A clean isolated fragment is only one step toward a connected solo.