With the joys of smartphones, and tablets having immediate access to guitar resources is more straightforward and easy! Here are just a few useful apps for guitarists both new and old that you might find a use for:
1. Ultimate Guitar/Tabs App
-
Home page of Ultimate Guitar Tab App.
-
This is an example of a song with the chords and lyrics shown.
-
You will need to pay for these, however you'll soon find they can be very helpful!
-
If you've paid for the full app, you get access to a detail chord library, featuring many a strange chord!
-
A handy tool, which can set the metronome click at 1/4 1/8 1/16 and triplet lengths.
-
This feature is once again paid however, it can be really useful to hear what each riff sounds like before playing!
Starting off with one of the apps I use frequently. When I’m looking for a new song to learn, I start by looking into the chord charts, or tabs that are popular and it gives a few suggestions.
You can also find a selection of songs which are based on various topics such as “Iconic Riffs”, “DADGAD Songs”, “Rock Hits”. It’s a beautiful way of finding new songs you might not have heard of, and it can give you a headstart on discovering new styles. Do note, some of the tabs may not be 100% accurate as the Ultimate Guitar community makes them, so always be sure to check the song to make sure.
If you’re happy to spend money on the app, you also get more features such as:
- A Metronome which has a quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and triplet subdivisions as well as a few off-beat divisions too.
- A Chord Library featuring many chords up and down the fretboard as well as other chord types such as m6 diminished 9ths and more… for jazz fans.
- Two Tuners – One chromatic tuner which can be preset to standard and drop tuning and also many open tunings.
- Tab Tracker – Want some help keeping track of what pieces you’re learning the app, this resource can help you.
It’s recently come to my attention that it’s only free on the tablet version, it’s £2.99 if you want it on smartphones, and they’ve recently increased their price considerably. So it may be something you’d prefer to skip at current.
2. Fender Tune
-
Auto Tuner
-
Manual Tuner
-
Tips and Tricks
If you’ve had lessons from me in the past, this app will be somewhat familiar to you, as it’s something I use nearly every lesson. A fabulous easy to use app specially designed for beginners by Fender themselves. It’s also helpful if you forget to pack a tuner in your gig bag.
As you could imagine, it’s a pretty good tuner, being from a guitar company themselves. The only downside to this app is it works better in the quiet – and by quiet I mean silence. It’s sensitive and is good at its job, but it also ends up trying to tune other people around you (voices or shouts). So use this one when it’s quiet.
3. Smart Click
-
Main Page
-
Time Sig Options
-
General Options
The metronome is a great tool to help you improve your Rhythm (alongside listening to these songs and this app is designed to do one task and do it very very well. This metronome can’t do everything that the Ultimate Guitar metronome app can do, however, that app can come at a cost whereas this one is entirely free. It’s accurate and just does its job. It also can turn off or change the sound of each click. So you can make it as easy or complicated as you’d like and if you change the time signature you can do the 8th or 16th note lengths as well as the above app. The only downside is currently it only supports iOS.
4. Voice Memo
-
Main Page
-
Naming Conventions?
Voice memo on the iPhone is one of the most underrated useful apps that are preinstalled with the OS. This simple to use app means you can quickly record audio directly from your phone so if inspiration strikes you can use a voice memo to record an idea down immediately and if you’re an Android user, there are many apps available on the google store that can help you!
These are just a few useful apps for guitarists that help in my daily life of playing the guitar. Of course, there are many others that I’ve not even mentioned such as Evernote, the camera app and more. Are there any other useful apps for guitarists that you use that I’ve not written about! Let me know!
Until Next Time
Jonathan