Backing Tracks Chord charts & backing tracks

[F7b5]

Hello everyone,

I’ve created a simple website that aggregates backing tracks, performance videos from youtube, and chord charts, all in one place.
The site is completely free, and it will always stay that way.

Feel free to check it out here: OpenRealb - The Ultimate Source for Chord Charts
Any feedback is very welcome, I'm actively working on it!

 

[rhysonsax]

Interesting.

Have you thought carefully about upkeep of all the links. YouTube clips come and go over time and if you are trying to keep the links current over a huge number of tunes (the site says 2497 and counting) that seems like a mammoth task.

What source(s) do you use for the chord charts and how much work do you have to do to review and check them ? A lot of the old Real Books are riddled with errors and even the good sources seem to be inconsistent for some tunes.

Good luck

Rhys

 

[wakyct]

I'm guessing you made this to scratch some itch you were having, so I'm curious what that was?

 

[F7b5]

Interesting.

Have you thought carefully about upkeep of all the links. YouTube clips come and go over time and if you are trying to keep the links current over a huge number of tunes (the site says 2497 and counting) that seems like a mammoth task.

Hey, yup that's right, but I found a solution that allowed me to automate the videos discovery / classification process. Right now it's not optimized, and I will improve it for sure. I miss transcriptions videos, and a lot of performance, I'd also like to show some informations relevant to the video ( the meter if present in the desc or title, the key, tempo etc.. ).

I've as well made a process to convert either some PDFs or some musicxml files to my internal format for storing the charts, so I used different sources (books, some pdf I had laying there etc..) to gather and collect those tunes. In its current state, it's really more something like a proof of concept.

.. how much work do you have to do to review and check them ? A lot of the old Real Books are riddled with errors and even the good sources seem to be inconsistent for some tunes.

I'm guessing you made this to scratch some itch you were having, so I'm curious what that was?

Yeah, sources are inconsistent for many tunes. Plus, the chords often vary depending on the performance. I’ve seen realbook charts based on specific arrangements or referencing alternate chords from other versions. Some tunes even have multiple known versions (like Well You Needn't)

So here are the problems I encountered as a young musician & jazz player that I'd like to solve :

- I want to quickly listen to performances of a given tune/chart. When learning tunes, I’d often dig through allmusic or other sites to find all the recordings of a tune. That really helped me understand how some musicians borrow elements from earlier or more popular versions and that’s something I wanted to make easier to explore.

- While doing that, I thought adding backing tracks would be cool, and I’m also considering including transcription or educational videos (like the ones on Coltrane changes etc.)

- Another issue iss that many charts online refer to a particular version of a tune. I’d like to implement a versioning feature, so users could, for example, see Well You Needn’t with Monk's changes, and view all related videos. They’d also be able to compare versions listen/reading both etc..

- I want an app that works everywhere, on every device, and where you can read chord charts for free.

- On a personal side, I work in IT and I’ve challenged myself to release some side-projects. This is one of them!

So right now I’m sharing it, watching how much interest it gets, and making small improvements. Next steps (not ordered) include:

- Improving the layout & rendering engine.
- Releasing an editor, so people can have their private charts, setlists etc. and contribute back to the public repository
- Creating a community driven reviewing process. So people would be able to contribute, rate a chart, comment it, suggest edits which would then be moderated by trusted members of the community.
- Finding a way to cover hosting costs without ruining the UX or usability

In any case, please share feedbacks, I'll take them into account.

 

[wakyct]

- Another issue iss that many charts online refer to a particular version of a tune. I’d like to implement a versioning feature, so users could, for example, see Well You Needn’t with Monk's changes, and view all related videos. They’d also be able to compare versions listen/reading both etc..

I think this is a really cool idea, some kind of version graph where you could see what borrows from what. Even listing them in a timeline/chronological view would be a good first step though probably would require some manual editing to get it right. Maybe that's where the community review would step in.

 

[F7b5]

Hello everyone!

It’s been a little while since my last update, so here’s a packed one for OpenRealb: backing tracks and chord charts for popular songs

- I’ve now linked the scores to more than 40,000 videos: transcriptions, backing tracks, live performances, studio recordings, tutorials, and more.
- The sidebar menu has been completely redesigned for smoother navigation and a much better video-watching experience.
- The homepage and search engine have also been reworked to be clearer and more comfortable, whether you’re on desktop or mobile.

In short, lots of improvements! Feel free to share your feedback, here or directly on the site!

As for the next updates (probably coming in early 2026):
- I plan a major rework of the core: scores, fonts, etc. to ensure perfect display on all devices
- Adding more songs to the score library
- Adding more relevant linked videos

 

[lig]

Very cool. Love the instant transposition. Well done and thank you!

 

[F7b5]

Hello everyone,

A new feature is now available: you can now view sheet music offered by different retailers directly from the song page. I also plan to add transcription books and more.



---

@lig Thanks 🙏, do you have any feedback on the app? Do you use it?

 

[lig]

Hello everyone,

A new feature is now available: you can now view sheet music offered by different retailers directly from the song page. I also plan to add transcription books and more.

View attachment 30939

---

@lig Thanks 🙏, do you have any feedback on the app? Do you use it?

Love the idea - afraid I haven't used the app yet. I am playing funk/soul jazz for the most part so I don't think I've seen the songs we've been programming yet.

I've been using Moises quite a bit but the chord export function isn't very good. Yours looks great.

 

[F7b5]

Oh right, are there any composer / albums you'd like to find on the site ?

About Moises, well, I actually didn't think of it, but since Moises provide an API, I could definitely plug it on Openrealb. However, there's a lot of thing I don't know, especially about rights when hosting and transforming copyrighted music.

However, it's definitely possible to add an "Upload my backing track" where one could upload his own MP3 and have it play in sync with the chord charts + having access to the in app mixer. I wonder if people would like it? Who still has music files on his computer?

 

[lig]

Oh right, are there any composer / albums you'd like to find on the site ?

About Moises, well, I actually didn't think of it, but since Moises provide an API, I could definitely plug it on Openrealb. However, there's a lot of thing I don't know, especially about rights when hosting and transforming copyrighted music.

However, it's definitely possible to add an "Upload my backing track" where one could upload his own MP3 and have it play in sync with the chord charts + having access to the in app mixer. I wonder if people would like it? Who still has music files on his computer?

Thanks for asking - my use case is pretty narrow.

The super lucky thing for me is that my bass player and guitar player are both really fast at charting out tunes by ear.

If there was a tune I'd like to play I usually just send them a link to an audio/video of it and "boom" it's done.

If I did luck out and find it on your site it would save them a bit of time and effort but the bass player in particular likes to chart out the chords and his own lines so he usually does the work regardless of whether I send him a chart or not.

 

[F7b5]

Thanks for asking - my use case is pretty narrow.

The super lucky thing for me is that my bass player and guitar player are both really fast at charting out tunes by ear.

If there was a tune I'd like to play I usually just send them a link to an audio/video of it and "boom" it's done.

If I did luck out and find it on your site it would save them a bit of time and effort but the bass player in particular likes to chart out the chords and his own lines so he usually does the work regardless of whether I send him a chart or not.

Yeah right. Well I guess this might be more of use for student maybe, or situation where you have to play live and cannot afford to not find the chords. I myself mostly play by ear & chart them if I need them. You often get more details out of the tune if you do it yourself.

I was also thinking about adding some "practice" features, for people more experienced:

- a feature that plays the tune in 12 tones, switching every AABA by a fourth/fifth, in order to practice transposing melodies

- another more like a "quizz", to know if you really know the tune ( at school, we used to have a teacher that would test us asking us to write our favorite standard in less than 5 minutes, with a maximum details - lyrics, transcriptions, artist/album/label/year or recording etc. While it seemed a bit weird, I still remember that standard. )

And another I'd like to add is the community. To make it clear, it'd be just a "chat" tab on the left, where you could ask questions / answer stuff about the sheet you're looking at. "What do you guys play on bar 5 ?", "How can one play this line that fast ?" etc.

Anyway, I'll think about it, thanks for sharing your use case!

 

[wakyct]

I think a comments tab is a great idea.

 

[F7b5]

Hey everyone, it's been a while since my last post, and a lot has happened in the meantime:

• Multilingual site: OpenRealb is now available in several languages, in case English isn't your go-to.
• Revamped chart layout: charts should now display better on both mobile and desktop. There's still work to do, but it's a lot more mature than before.
• New website design: more ergonomic on mobile and desktop, now with a dark mode, and it should feel more natural and polished overall.
• Programmable metronome: enter a tune's form, or any custom form, and it follows along. It should be accurate, but let me know if you try it!
• Accounts and chart editor: create an account to write chord charts directly on the website.

You can access all of that from the homepage. Please, let me know if you have any feedbacks!

Here are some screenshots:

 

[lig]

Looks great! Still haven’t actually used it yet though. I would definitely be using it a good deal if it had the capability to upload a backing track. Didn’t see it at first glance.

My use case has expanded a little since then as I’m now preparing to do some solo/duo track gigs.

I’m sure I’ll take advantage of the Editor feature soon.

Thanks for making this tool!

 

[F7b5]

Looks great! Still haven’t actually used it yet though. I would definitely be using it a good deal if it had the capability to upload a backing track. Didn’t see it at first glance.

My use case has expanded a little since then as I’m now preparing to do some solo/duo track gigs.

I’m sure I’ll take advantage of the Editor feature soon.

Thanks for making this tool!

Thanks for the feedback!

I'd like to understand how you'd use backing tracks before building anything:
- What format would you upload: audio (MP3/WAV), MIDI, or something else?
- What should the app do during playback? For example, highlight the current bar, auto-scroll, handle repeats, adjust tempo, add a count-in…
- Would you mainly use it for practice, on stage, or both?
- How do you handle backing tracks today, and what bugs you about it?

Thanks again, and let me know what you think of the editor!

 

[lig]

Early days for me. I've avoided doing backing track gigs forever but there's a demand for it so after the first go round the venue wants to do more and another one of my regular venues would like to do a casual similar thing in addition to the full on 6 or 7 piece band I usually bring.

The full band is a lot of work for all so the casual thing would be nice and easy using tracks and we wouldn't have to deal with ticket sales etc.

My use of tracks so far - I normally just make a playlist in Apple Music and play it from my iPad. I buy or make the tracks, save them in .mp3 format and go.


The plan is to have guests sit in and have my guitarist doing me full time and that's where I can see your app come into play.

It would be similar to Forscore where I'll have the song scroll along. Having the array of Real Book tunes would be pretty cool!

My current RealBook adjacent workflow would be creating a .pdf from my digital copies of Real Books, adding it to Forscore and creating a setlist for the gig.

If your app would actually read repeats and coda etc that would really be something! Not needed but would be useful.

I use Forscore with a foot pedal for page turning at the moment but normally I don't use sheet music. Pretty much the only time I use it on stage is when playing with another band.

If I could upload backing tracks that would generate charts that would make life easier for whomever my additional musicians would be for sure and that would be my primary use case for OpenRealB.

It would also have the benefit of collaborating on a set list much easier.

 

[F7b5]

If I could upload backing tracks that would generate charts that would make life easier for whomever my additional musicians would be for sure and that would be my primary use case for OpenRealB.

That's a super cool feature idea. This isn't an easy one though, it's a machine learning/AI task and I'm not familiar with this field of study. Also, it'd need a dataset with tracks and their chords mapping. I'll look into it, I'm curious!

 

[lig]

That's a super cool feature idea. This isn't an easy one though, it's a machine learning/AI task and I'm not familiar with this field of study. Also, it'd need a dataset with tracks and their chords mapping. I'll look into it, I'm curious!

Totally get that. Big ask for sure but it is one that would make the app something I would pay for for sure as I am the worlds worst transcriber 😀

I've tried some dedicated AI programs and as far as lead sheets are concerned - they are pretty bad.

For chords they can be helpful but not perfect.