How to Set A/B Loop Points Precisely
A good loop is the difference between productive practice and frustrating practice. Here's how to pick points that actually help you learn.
What Makes a Good Loop Point?
A good loop starts on a strong downbeat (usually beat 1 of a bar) and ends just before the next strong downbeat, so the seam is musically invisible. A bad loop starts mid-phrase and ends on an off-beat — your ear registers the jump and the loop feels jerky. Aim for loops that are 1, 2, 4, or 8 bars long. These correspond to natural musical phrases. A 3-bar loop usually feels lopsided; a 2.5-bar loop sounds broken.
Step 1: Find the Downbeat of the Section
Play the section a couple times through. Tap your foot. The 'ONE' of 'one-two-three-four' is your downbeat. That's where point A should go. If the section starts with a pickup note (a note that happens before beat 1), you have two choices: include the pickup (set A before the pickup) or skip it (set A on beat 1 after). For most practice purposes, skipping the pickup is fine.
Step 2: Click on the Waveform to Set A
In loope, click once on the waveform at the downbeat. A blue marker appears — that's your point A. If you can see the waveform peaks clearly, they'll line up with the beats. A big peak every four waveform 'lumps' usually means you're looking at a four-on-the-floor pattern. Zoom in (top menu) for finer positioning.
Practice setting A/B pointsStep 3: Click Again to Set B
Click again at the end of your loop zone — the downbeat of the NEXT section. This is where loope will jump back to A from. Common mistake: setting B at the end of the last beat instead of on the downbeat after. If your loop is 'bar 5 through bar 8,' then B should be on the downbeat of bar 9, not at the end of bar 8. Trust the downbeat.
Step 4: Test and Adjust
Press Play. The loop starts. Listen: does it feel musical, or does it click/jump at the seam? If it jumps, one of the points is slightly off the beat. Click the waveform again — loope moves whichever marker is closer to your new click. Nudge until the seam feels invisible. For extra precision, slow the speed to 50% while setting the loop. The beats feel wider and easier to land on.
Try it now in Loope
Drop a track. Slow it down. Loop the tricky part. Change the key. All in your browser — no upload, no signup.
Open LoopeRelated Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Usually one of two things: (1) Point A isn't on a downbeat, so the loop starts mid-phrase and the ear hears it as a discontinuity. (2) Point B is slightly early or late, creating a gap or overlap. Try slowing the song to 50% and resetting both points carefully.
Technically as short as a fraction of a second. For practice, a half-bar loop (one beat at a slow tempo) is useful for drilling a single chord transition. Anything shorter and the ear can't follow the phrase.
Not in loope. Two points (A and B) define a single loop. For multiple loop zones, export the section as its own file and work on one at a time.
Usually no — pickups make loops feel unbalanced when they repeat. Start on the strong downbeat and treat the pickup as a one-off on the first pass. If the phrase really needs the pickup for context, set A before it, but be aware the loop seam will feel busier.
Not yet. Beat-snapping would require BPM detection, which is on the roadmap. Until then, zoom in on the waveform and set points by visual alignment — big peaks usually indicate beats.