I recently picked up the guitar again, and I’m a little rusty with chords and all that surrounds strumming those strings. Well, I have my iPhone with me, so why not use that to get back on track.
I searched on the App Store and was surprised to find only one viable candidate to do the job. No I’m not talking about virtual guitars where you can strum strings by shaking the iPhone. I’m talking about real useful functions like tuning, chord progressions, and a metronome. Guitar Toolkit by Agile Partners seems to be the most feature rich guitar application on the iPhone, and boy was I happy I found it.
Tuning
My brother is a professional guitar player, so when I asked him if we could tune his guitar with my iPhone, “Get that toy out of here” was his remark. After persisting, we tried tuning his electric guitar, and the results were fantastic. The app automatically detects the string you’re plucking and tells you whether you need to tighten it or loosen it. I tuned my acoustic guitar as well, which I had struggled with earlier using old school methods.
Chords
Please get this straight. I’m a horrible guitar player, and pretty much no one knows that I can even hold one straight. I have limited knowledge of chords, so when I come across something like a Sus4 or Maj7, I’m usually running around the internet searching for the way to play it. Guitar Toolkit is just fantastic, and I’m not just saying it. It shows you every possible chord under the sun, with numbers indicating which are the ideal fingers for the job. You can switch between different locations of the chords with ease, and changing them is just two taps away.
Metronome and the Fretboard
I don’t use the metronome very often, but it’s got a really good one from what I can tell. It’s not as slick as Bjango’s Beats app, but you can tap-tap-tap to gauge the tempo and then play along with the different sounds you can use. The Fretboard bit I didn’t understand, so I’ll not comment.
Complaints and Grievances
The app is kind of sluggish when switching modes. This of course won’t be a problem for 3GS owners, but for 2G iPhones it’s a bit of a drag switching between say the Metronome and Chords. My second complaint, and this is one that Adam Betts shares with me, is the icon is non standard. So off it goes alongside DocumentsToGo in the ‘bad icon corner’ of the third home screen, even though this is a definitely a Home Screen 1 worthy app.
Verdict
The app is just plain fantastic for any guitarist. It’s well supported for different tunings, bass guitars, 12 strings, and even left handed support. The user interface is beautifully crafted, with rich colours, good layout, and realistic renderings of the guitar fretboard. At $9.99, I’m pretty sure this is the app you want if amateur or professional guitaring is your kind of thing.
Giveaway
Yep. We’re giving away… um… shall we say 4 codes? Yes. 4 codes for giveaway; 2 for lucky tweetbacks and 2 for those who take the trouble to leave a comment. Randomness is key to this giveaway. Standard giveaway rules apply.
