Loop and slow down any section of a YouTube video, pitch intact

Practicing a difficult bar means hearing it slowly, hearing it often, and not breaking your concentration to rewind. PhraseLoop marks the passage once, drops the speed as far as you need, and repeats it until it feels natural. It works with any YouTube video or a file from your own device.

How it works

1. 1

   Load a video, or open a file

   Paste a YouTube link, or drag in a video or audio file from your own device. Both give you the same controls. Local files stay on your machine.

2. 2

   Mark the passage with A and B

   Press A where the difficult part starts and B where it ends. The markers sit on the timeline and can be nudged in small steps once you are close.

3. 3

   Slow it down until you can play it

   Drop the speed anywhere between 0.25x and 2x. The pitch stays where it was, so a guitar solo at half speed is still in the same key.

4. 4

   Loop it until it stops being difficult

   Turn the loop on and the passage repeats without you touching anything. Bring the speed back up a little at a time as it gets easier.

Who it is for

It was built for musicians working a phrase up to tempo: a guitar solo that moves too fast to hear, a piano passage where the left hand keeps losing its place, a drum fill you can almost play. The same approach works anywhere repetition is the point, which is why people use it for language pronunciation, dance choreography, and technique in sport.

The loop anticipates the end point slightly rather than waiting to overshoot it, so it comes round cleanly instead of clipping the first note of the phrase.

Practice guides

Longer pieces on how to use the time you spend with the instrument.

• How to loop a section of a YouTube video
• How to slow down a YouTube video
• How to learn a guitar solo
• All guides

Questions

How do I loop a section of a YouTube video?

YouTube itself can only repeat a whole video. Right click the player and choose Loop and you get the entire thing again from the top, with no way to set a start and end point. That is fine for a song you want on repeat, and no use at all for the four bars you are actually trying to learn.

To repeat just one part, paste the link here, play until the start of the passage and press A, then play to the end of it and press B. Press L to turn the loop on and that section repeats on its own. Both markers can be moved afterwards without losing your place, and you can drop the speed while it loops.

Does slowing a video down change the pitch?

No. Both YouTube and your browser correct the pitch automatically when playback speed changes, so a passage at 0.5x sounds slower but stays in the same key. This is what makes slow practice useful for musicians: you can still hear the intervals correctly while you work out the fingering.

How slow can it go?

Down to 0.25x, which is a quarter of the original speed, and up to 2x if you want to push a passage past tempo once you have it. Use ⇧ , and ⇧ . to step the speed down and up, the same keys YouTube uses.

Can I use my own recordings instead of YouTube?

Yes. Drag any video or audio file onto the page and it opens in the same player with the same markers, speed control, and loop. This is useful for a lesson recording, a backing track, or anything not on YouTube.

Do my files get uploaded anywhere?

No. Files you open stay in your browser and are never sent to a server. There is no upload step and no account. The tradeoff is that a link to a local file only reopens on the same browser, since the file never left it.

Can I share a loop with someone else?

Yes, for YouTube videos. The address bar keeps the video, both markers, and the speed, so copying the link and sending it opens the same passage at the same speed for whoever receives it. Useful for a teacher pointing a student at one specific bar.

What are the keyboard shortcuts?

Space plays and pauses. A and B set the markers, L toggles the loop, and R jumps back to the start of it. ⇧ , and ⇧ . change speed. Arrow keys seek. The full list is in the Shortcuts dialog in the header.

Is it free?

Yes, and there is no account to create. Open the page and start practicing.