PlayAlong
Get it

For guitarists and bassists

Be the missing part of any song.

Paste a YouTube link or drop in a song. PlayAlong takes it apart into guitar, bass, drums, vocals and keys, and writes out the chords for guitar and bass and the lyrics. All done by AI, free, right on your computer.

  • Six instruments, each on its own
  • Chords for guitar and bass
  • Lyrics in time
  • Free and private
Get it free View on GitHub
A song in PlayAlong: practice modes with the guitar switched off, the waveform of all instruments and the chord timeline
A song in PlayAlong: taken apart into six instruments, the guitar switched off, the chords rolling in.

What it does

Everything you need to play along, worked out by AI

Bring any song

Paste a YouTube link or drop in a file

Copy the link of a song video, or drag an audio file from your computer onto the page. That's all PlayAlong needs.

  • YouTube links
  • MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC and OGG files, by drag and drop
  • Your songs are kept, so they open instantly next time
Adding a song: a field for a YouTube link and a drop zone for audio files

Six instruments

Switch the guitar or bass off and take its place

The AI takes every song apart into guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keys and the rest. One click mutes your instrument, or plays it alone so you can learn the part.

  • Without or only: for guitar and for bass, vocals on or off
  • Every instrument with its own fader, mute and solo
  • Download any instrument, or the backing track, as audio
Practice modes (guitar or bass without or only, vocals on or off) and the six instrument tracks with their faders

Chords for guitar and bass

The chords, worked out for you

PlayAlong listens to the song and writes out the chords bar by bar, with the key and tempo. Big for what to play now and next, with a beat counter, and as a chart of the whole song.

  • Capo and half step down tuning: the shapes change with it
  • Simple chords to start, full chords when you want them
  • Unsure chords are marked, so you know where to listen
The chord chart: key and tempo, the chord now and next with a beat counter, and the chords bar by bar

Lyrics

The lyrics, with every chord on its word

Whisper, the speech AI, writes down what's sung, and each chord sits right above the word where it changes. The sheet scrolls with the music, like a teleprompter.

  • English, German and many more, even mixed in one song
  • Click a line to jump there, Shift + click to loop
  • Unsure words are underlined
The lyrics with the chords above the words, following the song

Free and private

All of it runs on your own computer

No upload, no account, no subscription. The AI models run inside your browser, on the graphics card if there is one. A song takes a few minutes the first time and opens instantly after that.

  • Nothing leaves your computer
  • Fast with a graphics card (WebGPU), and it works without one too
  • As many songs as you like
The song being taken apart: one row of blocks per instrument filling up

Slow it down

Practise at half speed, without the pitch changing.

Loop the hard bits

Drag over the waveform and it repeats seamlessly.

Your backing track

Save the mix without your part, e.g. for a jam.

Sync your songs

Keep them in a folder, e.g. in OneDrive or Dropbox.

Keyboard shortcuts

Play, seek, loop and switch parts without the mouse.

Any song

Rock, pop, singer-songwriter: whatever you want to play.

Why it's free

Your computer is the studio.

Stem splitters usually run on rented cloud GPUs, so they charge per song or per month. PlayAlong sends the AI to your browser instead and lets your own graphics card or processor do the work. That costs nobody anything, so it's free, and your music stays on your device.

Other stem splittersnot PlayAlong

Your song
Their servers
Per song or month
  • Upload
  • Wait in a queue
  • Pay for the GPU time

PlayAlong

Your device

The song splits right where it is. No upload, no queue, no bill.

  • Downloaded once

    The AI models (about 125 MB, plus 1 GB for the lyrics) come once and are kept by your browser.

  • Speed depends on your device

    With a recent graphics card a song takes about as long as it plays. On a processor it can take several minutes; lyrics need a minute or two more.

  • Private by design

    Your audio is never uploaded and you don't need an account.

Get PlayAlong

Run it on your own computer. Free, in four lines.

PlayAlong runs locally: your computer serves the app and does the AI work, so there's no account, no upload and no limit. Paste YouTube links or drop audio files, and keep your songs in a folder of your choice.

  1. 1

    Install Node.js 22 or newer

    From nodejs.org (the LTS version), and git if you don't have it (or download the ZIP instead). Nothing else: no Python, no account.
  2. 2

    Open a terminal and run

    Windows: Terminal or PowerShell from the Start menu. Mac: Terminal (in Utilities). Linux: any terminal.
    Terminal
    $ git clone https://github.com/simonroedig/PlayAlong.git
    $ cd PlayAlong
    $ npm install
    $ npm run dev
  3. 3

    Open localhost:3000

    In Chrome or Edge, at http://localhost:3000. The first start downloads the AI models and the YouTube helper by itself (about 700 MB, once); after that it starts right away.To stop it, press Ctrl + C in the terminal. Next time, open a terminal in the PlayAlong folder and run npm run dev again.
simonroedig/PlayAlongThe code and the full guide on GitHubNo git? Download the ZIPUnpack it, open a terminal in the folder, then npm install and npm run dev.

Works on Windows, macOS and Linux, with the same steps. A graphics card makes it fast (Chrome or Edge use it through WebGPU); without one it runs on the processor and takes a few minutes per song.