Going from the giant binder to the iPad... I should have done this sooner!

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by alnico5

Two of the singers in my band use iPads. They don't have to lean the songs. I am holding everyone back my memorizing. On the other hand, if they have a glitch----no singing.

I have been using the same ipad for over 6 years with zero glitches. I can use my phone for backup because I have the SongBook app on it as well and they're linked to my dropbox. I think people unnecessarily worry about what "could" happen. You forgetting your binder or forgetting what you memorized is far more likely, imho.

[Stratcat77]

Originally Posted by The Kid!

Honestly, I never run into a gig where power isn’t available. I had one a few weeks ago outside, where I needed 50 feet of extension cord to get to it, but fortunately I had that in the car.

My iPad runs off of a USB port on the power strip attached to my board, so I always have power for it. If the power dies, then the iPad is the least of my worries.

All of my information backs up to dropbox, and it is accessible through the same app on my phone. If either were to break, I’d be fine. If both were to break, I’d be more irritated about both devices needing to be replaced than not being able to access lyrics for songs on a gig.

When I got a new phone last year, I downloaded the app and synched it to my dropbox, and I was up and running again almost immediately. I’ve had my iPad for a few years, and it’s working flawlessly.

Ditto for me. iPhone is loaded with a backup and I have an iPhone mic stand holder just in case. Never have had to use it.

[MikeBmusic]

My issue with using tablets for lyrics - SWIPING! I see people using them all the time, and having to pause every few lines (or each verse) to swipe down. I know people can get blue tooth pedals to do it, but they are fairly expensive (for what they are).

For myself, not wanting to wear reading glasses while playing, I print my lyrics in 26 font so I can read the pages from a few feet out (and to the side). I manipulate the lyrics so at most they take 2 pages (American Pie being an exception) and I can see the whole song with no need to pause.

I've been looking at 2-in-1 laptops with 13-14" screens, but will still need to swipe for all those 2 page lyrics.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by 619TF

Yeah, rechargeable BATTERIES. Welcome to 2019 where people assume you'll have access to electricity at all times (especially the most inappropriate times when your batteries are most likely to die), where people believe that their tech will always work, that they'll never drop or otherwise damage their device, and where they're willing to share all their data and location with their corporate tech "partners".

Well, I always make sure my iPad is fully charged before a gig and the charge lasts at least six hours...never played a six hour gig and I'm too old to start now.
My iPad is seven years old and still going strong and it has been dropped a couple of times.
What data? It's an iPad not a PC. Anyway, I get it, you are anti-technology.
To each his own.

[Slothead56]

I use OnSong on a 9” iPad...have for years.

It pains me to do this but I’m at the point where I can’t remember words and chords for 2-3 hours of music. I feel I’m overly reliant on the device and it keeps me from the crowd but it’s a necessity now.

Heck, I sometimes have trouble remembering lyrics to songs I’ve written!!

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

My issue with using tablets for lyrics - SWIPING! I see people using them all the time, and having to pause every few lines (or each verse) to swipe down. I know people can get blue tooth pedals to do it, but they are fairly expensive (for what they are).

For myself, not wanting to wear reading glasses while playing, I print my lyrics in 26 font so I can read the pages from a few feet out (and to the side). I manipulate the lyrics so at most they take 2 pages (American Pie being an exception) and I can see the whole song with no need to pause.

I've been looking at 2-in-1 laptops with 13-14" screens, but will still need to swipe for all those 2 page lyrics.

There's an auto scroll feature on SongBook that you can set the speed on. There is also an AirTurn pedal that turns pages for you. You have to turn pages on a three ring binder occasionally too, right?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

My issue with using tablets for lyrics - SWIPING! I see people using them all the time, and having to pause every few lines (or each verse) to swipe down. I know people can get blue tooth pedals to do it, but they are fairly expensive (for what they are).

For myself, not wanting to wear reading glasses while playing, I print my lyrics in 26 font so I can read the pages from a few feet out (and to the side). I manipulate the lyrics so at most they take 2 pages (American Pie being an exception) and I can see the whole song with no need to pause.

I've been looking at 2-in-1 laptops with 13-14" screens, but will still need to swipe for all those 2 page lyrics.

As others have noted and as I said in post 19 Swiping pages is a totally unnecessary action with Apps like OnSong for iOS (and looks like Songbook for Android ) with an Auto Scroll feature , no foot switch needed either. And with Onsong you can make the font as big as you need, and as I mentioned I think the black background with white color font selection is the most easily read in any stage lighting condition . If it were me I would consider and iPad even if just for Onsong App rather than a small laptop (unless you really need all the other features of a laptop)

Maybe later today I'll shoot a quick video demonstration

[KevWind]

opps double post

[norseman]

This thread motivated me to pitch the use of a tablet to my weekly jam group. Some members of the group were interested and others were skeptical. I decided to plunge ahead so I purchased and downloaded two apps: Songbook and Songbook Chord Pro. My first question is simple enough: are these the same app with one being an update of the other or are the two totally unrelatred? Second question is more complex: how do I go about saving a song to my iPad? I'm able to search for and find songs with tabs and lyrics so they show on my screen, but so far I've been unable to save what I see on my screen unless I enter a URL for that song. What am I missing? I've gone to YouTube and watched several demos and tutorials. Maybe I'm not looking at one that is suitable for the technology challenged because I reach information overload rather quickly, but I'm not having much success using either app. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has worked his/her way through this maze. Thanks. Larry

[JackB1]

I use Songbook Chordpro. Songbook is unrelated.

To save songs you can import them as PDFs from somewhere else or "share" them from another app. I use Ultimate Guitar Tabs and share from there.
With PDFs I would just email them to myself and then click on the file and open it with Songbook.

Originally Posted by norseman

This thread motivated me to pitch the use of a tablet to my weekly jam group. Some members of the group were interested and others were skeptical. I decided to plunge ahead so I purchased and downloaded two apps: Songbook and Songbook Chord Pro. My first question is simple enough: are these the same app with one being an update of the other or are the two totally unrelatred? Second question is more complex: how do I go about saving a song to my iPad? I'm able to search for and find songs with tabs and lyrics so they show on my screen, but so far I've been unable to save what I see on my screen unless I enter a URL for that song. What am I missing? I've gone to YouTube and watched several demos and tutorials. Maybe I'm not looking at one that is suitable for the technology challenged because I reach information overload rather quickly, but I'm not having much success using either app. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has worked his/her way through this maze. Thanks. Larry

[MikeBmusic]

I am aware of the scrolling feature in OnSong. In fact, I tried it initially with a small tablet I had, to find:

Oops, can't use the PDF of my lyric sheet - have to put in space for the instrumental intro. Oops, have to put the words in for each chorus, and space for the instrumental part before the next verse and bridge, too. Oh, people like this one, I should repeat the 1st verse again - nope, it's already scrolled out of sight.
In large font (and on a smaller tablet screen), the scrolling has to happen even faster, too, so setting the correct scroll speed is important (and no doubted a PITA, too - I don't always do songs at the same speed.

"You have to turn pages on a three ring binder occasionally too, right?", except for a couple of songs, I have them all condensed to 2 pages, so no page turning involved during the song.

"If it were me I would consider and iPad even if just for Onsong App rather than a small laptop "
An iPad with a screen larger than 10" is more expensive than a Windows 2-in-1 laptop!

[Slothead56]

I do one Happy Hour per month at the same place. I usually do 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours straight, no break.

My iPad is loaded with about 400 songs...my set list for this gig is typically 70 so I pick and choose based on my mood. Always adding new stuff.

This thread has inspired me to work harder to learn the same 20-25 songs I always do at this gig. For example, I always play Thunder Road. Always. And yet, I still load it up in the iPad as a reference. It ain’t that hard.

Once upon a time (when I was much younger) I could have played 100 songs at the drop of a hat. No more excuses. Going to learn those songs and use OnSong as the “oh yeah, I know that one” reference.

Thanks for all the input!

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

I am aware of the scrolling feature in OnSong. In fact, I tried it initially with a small tablet I had, to find:

Oops, can't use the PDF of my lyric sheet - have to put in space for the instrumental intro. Oops, have to put the words in for each chorus, and space for the instrumental part before the next verse and bridge, too. Oh, people like this one, I should repeat the 1st verse again - nope, it's already scrolled out of sight.
In large font (and on a smaller tablet screen), the scrolling has to happen even faster, too, so setting the correct scroll speed is important (and no doubted a PITA, too - I don't always do songs at the same speed.

"You have to turn pages on a three ring binder occasionally too, right?", except for a couple of songs, I have them all condensed to 2 pages, so no page turning involved during the song.

"If it were me I would consider and iPad even if just for Onsong App rather than a small laptop "
An iPad with a screen larger than 10" is more expensive than a Windows 2-in-1 laptop!

Well yes every solution has a compromise and obviously to each their own . It was your stating your issue was with "swiping" that was the confusion and what prompted my response .

For me personally using my old iPad even with it's 7 3/4" by 5 3/4" actual screen size was a much better compromise than either one huge binder or three smaller ones . But then for my vision , font size (which BTW was slightly larger than what would usually fit on a binder page ) and speed relationship, were not a problem, as long as the estimated time was not too far off. Also I was able to download the songs I covered off the internet directly to Onsong so PDF was not a big issue either .

I always found that once I sang the first chorus I did not need the printed words for the additional ones, same with repeated verses .

Also in my personal performance do's and don'ts
I never do long instrumental intros, so space was not an issue, usually 1 bar maybe 2 at most , because personally when listening, I find them boring and thus do not subject my audience to that.
Also I did not normally do long songs either (same reason) usually 2 1/2 to 4 minutes max. The only exceptions (depending on gig and audience) were Big Iron by Marty Robbins and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and occasionally Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot

For me the real clincher was that my iPad would fit on a small 7" by 5" sheet music stand that attached onto my mic stand, and eliminated the need for the additional traditional sheet music stand, needed to display two sheets of 8 1/2 by 11 inch binder pages side by side. But as they say YMMV

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

I am aware of the scrolling feature in OnSong. In fact, I tried it initially with a small tablet I had, to find:

Oops, can't use the PDF of my lyric sheet - have to put in space for the instrumental intro. Oops, have to put the words in for each chorus, and space for the instrumental part before the next verse and bridge, too. Oh, people like this one, I should repeat the 1st verse again - nope, it's already scrolled out of sight.
In large font (and on a smaller tablet screen), the scrolling has to happen even faster, too, so setting the correct scroll speed is important (and no doubted a PITA, too - I don't always do songs at the same speed.

"You have to turn pages on a three ring binder occasionally too, right?", except for a couple of songs, I have them all condensed to 2 pages, so no page turning involved during the song.

"If it were me I would consider and iPad even if just for Onsong App rather than a small laptop "
An iPad with a screen larger than 10" is more expensive than a Windows 2-in-1 laptop!

A Windows system with comparable quality will not be cheap like many touch screen laptops and legitimately feed the thought in the post here that brought up reliability. We provision tablets and laptops at scale. The iPads and Microsoft Surface units are reliable with good support that many products don't have.

My playing is not serious enough to spend on the devices I see at jams and shows but my iPad has been valuable just set on a music stand. I have apps mentioned, lots of notes and .pdf, plus a circle of 5ths and theory app I like a lot.

For non-iPad users. This week's news included Google giving up on tablets. I'm sure Samsung will keep making quality hardware but that news has me thinking I'd only commit to an iPad or a Surface (Microsoft) for this sort of use.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Well, I always make sure my iPad is fully charged before a gig and the charge lasts at least six hours...never played a six hour gig and I'm too old to start now.
My iPad is seven years old and still going strong and it has been dropped a couple of times.
What data? It's an iPad not a PC. Anyway, I get it, you are anti-technology.
To each his own.

Congratulations on never having a technical issue! I've never had any of my printed pages fail me either.
Data...as in your songs, your owner info, etc. Worse if you're using a phone or other device as I was talking more generally but yes, even on your trusty old iPad actually has data on it!

Anti-technology? Hardly. I've been coding for computers since I was a youngster in the mid 1970s. I think almost 50 years with tech and computers has taught me a lot about what can and does go wrong though. Also, the tech today is more stalker for the big corporations than it ever was and it's only getting worse. Do I hate tech? Hellz no. Do I hate SPY tech...you betcha! Do I rely on tech to do everything while thinking it's the savior? Ummmm no to that as well. So keep your head well in the sand my friend, sucked in by the hype and criticizing the alternative viewpoint, that'll definitely help.