Install rythmify on your phone or tablet and practice wherever you sing. It gets its own icon on your home screen and opens full screen, like any other app.
iPhone and iPad. Open rythmify in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
Android. Open it in Chrome and choose Install app from the menu.
No. The beats are counted out (1 e + a), each word is a block where it's sung, and the song plays along, so you read the rhythm the way you'd clap it.
Which songs work?
English songs with a clear lead voice, up to 15 minutes long. A busy mix, heavy effects or several singers at once make it harder.
How exact is it?
Close, but not perfect. The timing is worked out by machine-learning models, so a word can land a little early or late, mostly in fast or unclear passages; where it's unsure, the blocks are dashed. You can drag a word to fix it or correct the lyrics, and the rest of the line follows.
Who sees my songs?
Only you. The songs you add are private to your account.
A guide for singers
How to learn a song: start with the rhythm.
Most people learn a song by singing along until the notes feel right. Try it the other way round: put every word on the beat first, then fix the notes. On the beat, you sound better straight away, even before every note is right.
Every example on this page runs in rythmify, an app that shows where every word of a song lands on the beat. It can do the same for the song you're learning.
50 songs free · no card needed · English songs for now
Updated
Hear the difference: late or out of tune?
Two versions of the first two lines of “Happy Birthday”. In one, the voice is 40 cents sharp, close to half a semitone; in the other, it comes half a beat (about 0.4 seconds) late. Which one sounds worse to you?
Which was which?
A is in tune, but the whole voice comes half a beat (an eighth note) later than he sang it. B is on time, but 40 cents sharp. Both are mistakes, but not the same kind. A late word you can start fixing tonight: count it, slow it down, loop the line. A sharp note takes longer, while your ear and your voice catch up. That's why this guide starts with the rhythm.
A wrong note in the right place sounds like a choice. A right note in the wrong place sounds like a mistake.
Everyone hears the beat. The band plays on it and the listener taps along to it. A word that comes in early or late pulls against both, and listeners feel it even when they couldn't tell you what's wrong.
It's the part you can work out. A rhythm can be counted, clapped and slowed down until it's right. Pitch takes longer: your ear and your voice get there with practice.
The rest follows. Once you know where each word lands, you know where to breathe and how long to hold a note, and the notes come more easily when you aren't rushing to catch up.
How to learn a song in six steps
Every example below is rythmify playing “Happy Birthday to You”, a song you already know, so you can hear what each step does instead of learning a new tune. Alexander Stephens sings it, and each card is set up the way its step says. Press play on any of them. A song you add works the same way.
Read where every word lands
Before you sing a note, listen and follow the words on the grid. Each syllable is a block where it's sung, counted 1 e + a (say “one-ee-and-a”); “Happy Birthday” is in 3/4, so the count goes to three. Even a song you know has surprises: this singer puts “day” and “you” ahead of the beat, line after line. That's his phrasing, not a slip: learning a song means learning where its words land. Clap or tap along until the line feels obvious.
Slow the song down (the pitch stays)
At 75% the rhythm opens up, and the pitch stays where it was. Sing along quietly at this speed until you're never behind the band.
Sing with a metronome
A click makes the beat impossible to miss, and it tells you at once whether you're rushing or dragging.
Loop the line you keep missing
There's always one. Here it's the third line, “Happy birthday, happy birthday” (where most people sing “dear …”): eight syllables where the other lines have six. Loop just that line and go round until it's automatic. If it's too fast to follow, slow it down first.
Sing over the band, without the singer
Keep the voice as a guide while you learn the line. Then take it out and sing the part yourself, with the band. This example starts without the singer: choose Singer in to hear the voice again.
Then the notes, in your key
With the rhythm in place, fine-tune the pitch. Press and hold the note above a word to hear the pitch it's sung on, and use − and + to move the song up or down until it sits well in your voice.
Your song, set up the same way
Search for the song you're learning: in a few minutes rythmify shows where every syllable lands, with the singer and the band apart, ready to slow down and loop.
50 songs free · no card needed · English songs for now
How to memorize the words
Words are easier to remember when each one has a place. Once you know which beat a word falls on, a line becomes a rhythm you can tap rather than a string of words to recite.
One line at a time. Loop a line until you can sing it without reading, then join it to the next.
Say it before you sing it. Speak the words in rhythm, without the tune, over the band.
Test yourself with the singer out. If you can sing a verse on time without looking, you know it.
Questions about learning a song
How do I learn a song fast?
Start with the line that trips you up, not the first verse. Slow it to 75%, loop it until it's automatic, then bring the speed back up.
How do I sing on the beat?
Clap the line along with the song first, then sing it slowed down with a click. Ahead of the click is rushing; behind it is dragging.
Do I need to read music?
No. The beats are counted out (1 e + a), each word is a block where it's sung, and the song plays along, so you read the rhythm the way you'd clap it.
Try it with your own song
Add the song you're learning, and rythmify times every syllable of it in a few minutes. It's close, not perfect: if a word lands a little off, drag it into place. Works best on English songs with one clear lead voice. 50 songs free, no card needed.
Music – “Happy Birthday to You” (Patty and Mildred Hill, public domain), sung by Alexander Stephens, produced and arranged by Hanns Christian Müller for the audiobook “mylingo”: the recording on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). The examples use its English verses, separated and timed; the two clips above are edited from them, the voice moved half a beat later in one and raised by 40 cents in the other. These are shared under the same licence.
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