Playing with backing tracks is usually more fun than playing with a metronome. Not always more helpful, but nearly always more fun. I use iTabla Pro, Brazilian Drum Machine, Afro-Latin Drum Machine, and Djembe Studio pretty regularly.

I just downloaded the latest rhthm backing track/metronome DrumGenius and love it. Not only does it have a wide range of styles and selections (see pic), each beat can be tuned and (of course) sped up or slowed down.

Best of all is the educational aspect: it can be a challenge to remember (or even know, TBH) what a beat name is whether it’s a Boogaloo or a medium shuffle. This app will teach you. Super useful for composition or learning what a beat sounds like. Great for drummers, and any musician on another instrument who wants variety in their backing tracks or songwriting.

The app also gives you examples of players and tunes. For example, the Boogaloo #5 is based on Billy Higgins’s work in Sidewinder, by Lee Morgan.

You can preview all the rhythms for free and you can download 3 beats for free. Any more than that you have to purchse, but at $7.99 for unlimited credits (500 loops as of this writing), it’s a great deal. A tiny tasty robot jazz drummer with good feel right in your pocket. Yes, that was a pun.