Moises Alternatives: Practising Along Without the Monthly Limits

August 8, 2026by OpenFret Team

Moises pulls a recording apart into separate stems, so you can mute the guitar and play the part yourself over everything else. It also shifts key and tempo without turning the audio to soup. The separation is the best in reach of a normal person, and pretending some free tool matches it would be dishonest. What is worth questioning is whether stem separation was the thing you needed.

Most guitarists wanted a backing track

Stripping the guitar out of a record is a roundabout way of getting something to play over, and backing tracks already exist in every key and tempo, made for exactly this. Our backing tracks guide covers how to pick one that matches what you are practising, and there are full tracks with tab and scale notes on the site, from E minor psychedelic rock to A major neo-soul.

If the problem was tempo, not stems

Slowing a passage down is the most common reason people reach for audio tools, and a Guitar Pro file does it better than any stem splitter because it slows the notation with the audio. Failing that, a metronome and a slower target tempo does the same job with no processing at all. The Studio metronome is free and needs no account.

If you are learning a specific part

This is where Moises earns its keep and nothing else comes close. Hearing the bass and drums with the guitar removed tells you things about placement and feel that a transcription cannot. If that is your use case, the tool is worth what it charges, and none of the free options below replace it.

If your timing is the real issue

Audio tools are a comfortable way to avoid finding out whether you can play in time. A metronome, a fixed passage, and a recording of yourself once a month is a harsher test and a much faster one. Tracking progress properly sets out what to measure, and Guitar Quest grades what you actually play through the microphone, which removes the guesswork about whether that run was clean. It is $30 once once and the demo is free.

What I would do

Keep Moises free for the occasional song you are transcribing seriously. Use backing tracks for everyday practice, because that is what they were built for and they cost nothing. Spend the subscription money on something that reacts to your playing instead of processing somebody else's. That is Guitar Quest. It is $30 once once and the demo is free, so it is a short experiment either way.

Moises alternatives FAQ

What does Moises actually do?

It splits a recording into separate stems so you can mute the guitar and play over the rest, and it can change key and tempo without the audio falling apart. The stem separation is genuinely impressive and is the reason people put up with the monthly limits.

Is there a free alternative to Moises?

For stem separation specifically, nothing free matches it, and pretending otherwise would be silly. What is free is the thing most guitarists actually wanted: a backing track to play over, which you can get without processing a copyrighted recording at all.

Do I need stem separation to practise?

Rarely. Removing the guitar from a record is useful for learning a specific part in context, and it is a poor substitute for a metronome or a proper backing track when you are working on timing. Most practice problems are not solved by better audio tools.

What is the best way to practise along to songs?

A backing track in the right key, a metronome for the parts that keep slipping, and a recording of yourself once a month to check what actually changed. That stack costs nothing and catches more than a stem splitter does.