Essential Tools: A Looper

A looper is one of the most essential tools for building your skills as a guitarist, both when learning songs and developing your ability to improvise. In this 9-page PDF lesson, I discuss the key features of software and hardware loopers and make specific recommendations for which apps and pedals to use to get the most out of your Fret Science membership.

Essential tools: a looper

If you want to improve as a guitarist and you already have a guitar and a tuner, the most valuable tool to add to your kit next is a looper. In this brief lesson, I will discuss hardware and software loopers. I’ll explain why you should have one of each, and I’ll recommend my favorites.

A looper, whether it’s an app on your phone/computer or a pedal on your board, is, at heart, a tool for repeating a section of music continuously so that you can practice along with it. There are some other nice features to look out for, but this is the basic benefit: repeatable practice.

On the Fret Science Patreon, I am starting to publish backing tracks you can use to practice improvising over various chord progressions. These backing tracks are compatible with all of the loopers described here, and I’ll cover the basics of using them. Wherever possible, I have included links to the products I recommend.¹

Basic software looping

There are multiple excellent loop-capable apps available for every phone and computer platform. Any of these will allow you to play a pre-recorded loop on repeat. If you have an iPhone or a Mac, you already own GarageBand , which will do the trick.

Just create a new empty project:

Create a new “Mic or Line” track when prompted:

Set the tempo to match the “bpm” marking on your loop track:

Drag in your loop track and line it up to the beginning of the first measure:

And finally, click the bar above the track to turn on loop mode:

The same basic process works in Logic Pro X as well. When you hit play (or press the space bar), the loop you dropped in will play continuously until you stop it.

If you’re using one of these DAWs,² you can record yourself playing along and then listen back to hear how you sounded, which is one of the best ways to improve quickly. Before you make a recording, extend the loop by clicking near its right-hand edge and then dragging to the right. This will extend the loop as far as you drag.

Then click the “+” button to add a new track. Select “Mic or line” if you are playing through an amplifier, or choose “Guitar or Bass” if you want GarageBand to provide a virtual amp.

I don’t intend for this to be a full tutorial on recording with GarageBand, so I’ll stop there. If you need a basic recording tutorial, you can easily find one on YouTube.

Other great software looper features

If you’re willing to pay a few dollars for some very useful additional functionality, I highly recommend checking out AnyTune (or, alternatively, Amazing Slow Downer). I use both on my iPhone (and AnyTune on my MacBook). Both are available on all major platforms.

The killer feature of these apps is that they make it incredibly easy to independently control the pitch and tempo of any audio content you load into them.

If you’re playing along with a recording that’s tuned down a half-step (like many songs by Hendrix, Van Halen, Extreme, etc.), but your guitar is in standard pitch, you can just hit the “#” button, and you’ll be right in tune. If you’re struggling to play something at full tempo, you can knock it down to 70% until it’s under your fingers, and then work your way back up to full speed.

Another killer feature is the ability to loop a small section of a larger recording. To do this, just use the AXB buttons. “A” sets the start point of the loop; “B” sets the endpoint; and “X” clears the loop.

These apps also make it easy to create a playlist of saved loop sections and tracks. This is great for practicing because you can easily cycle through everything you’re working on.

The best hardware looper pedal for most guitarists

As great as software loopers are, there is something special about looper pedals, and I believe every player should have one as the final link of their pedalboard signal chain.

Loopers are marketed as allowing you to build up a massive multi-track arrangement in real time by playing each part while the previously recorded parts loop back. And they’re great for that, but that’s not why I think you should own one. The killer application — in my opinion — is the ability to create your own quick-and-dirty backing tracks for practicing improvisation.

I own six looper pedals, which I acknowledge is excessive. In my defense, I like to have a stereo looper on my stereo pedalboard, and I keep meaning to dive into the more advanced features of the Digitech Trio+ and Boss RC-500. But in the end, I almost always reach for the TC Electronic Ditto series, and if you’re in the market for a pedal, I highly recommend the TC Electronic Ditto+ (Sweetwater link, Amazon link).

1. You can save and recall 99 completely independent loops from memory. If you ever capture something you may want to revisit, you can just switch to a different slot, and whatever you captured will still be there when you go back.
2. You can connect the Ditto+ to your computer via USB and use that connection to load pre-recorded (44.1 kHz WAV) loops onto the pedal, or to copy your saved loops back to your computer.
3. If you enable the “dynamic loop length” feature, you can start with a short loop (e.g., a two-bar chord progression) and expand it on the fly for as long as you want.

The dynamic loop length feature, combined with the ability to load a pre-recorded loop onto the pedal, is the true killer combo for practicing improvisation. All Fret Science loops are provided as 44.1 kHz WAV files, so you can just drag and drop them from your computer into one of the 99 slots on the pedal. And then, when you practice improvising, you can hit the foot switch and play along for as long as you want to, and then when you double-tap the button to stop, it will immediately start playing back what you just recorded, so you can hear how you’re doing.

When connected to a computer, the Ditto+ shows up as a removable drive with 99 folders. You just drag your loop into one of the empty folders, and it will be available to play when you put the pedal back on your board.

After the Ditto+ processes the file you copied, it will be called “BT.WAV”, which stands for backing track. Any audio you record over the backing track will be in a separate file called “LOOP.WAV”. You can easily combine these into a single recording using GarageBand or any other DAW.

It blows my mind that you can do all of this with just a foot switch, two buttons, and a volume knob in a mini-size pedal, but TC Electronic found a way to make it intuitive to use.

At the time of this writing, this pedal costs $160, which is $60 more than the original pedal, but in my opinion, this pedal would be a bargain at twice the price.

As a final note, when I make loops for practicing, either in Logic Pro or from a commercial recording, I use Permute on my Mac to convert them to the correct format. You can set up Permute with a preset that converts any audio file to 44.1 kHz WAV, and it becomes as simple as “drag and drop” at that point. For a free cross-platform alternative, you can use Audacity.

Happy jamming!